We set off with the heaters on to thaw out...it didn't take long!! We went on a scenic drive around Dunedin spotting all the nice old looking buildings! We found the steepest street in the world, Baldwin street. We didn't attempt to walk or drive up it!
We then started to make our way north. We found ourselves in Oamaru by lunchtime where we ate at the top of a hill overlooking the town. We were only going to pass through but decided to stay, especially as there are penguins to be spotted here!
We found a campsite and had a very chilled afternoon which was lovely after rushing around for the last few weeks. We popped to the supermarket and then cooked a very yummy spag bol! It wasn't long then until the penguin spotting expedition! We wrapped up warm and made our way over to the beach in question. We got there at about 7pm and stood watching until about 9pm! There was plenty of waiting around but it was well worth it! In the end we saw 7 penguins come out of the water. We were up high along a path as they wont come out of the water if humans are on the beach. They were only small but it was clear that they were penguins and you can just make them out on the camera. Some of them were out of the water and to the nest within seconds, some liked to pose and took much longer! They were yellow eyed penguins which are the rarest penguins there are! There was a snoozy sealion on the beach who kept having to move as the tide came in..very amusing! T
he crowds started to disappear at about 8.30-8.45 but they were the losers! After all that waiting, it paid off when a penguin emerged on the path right in front of us, less than a foot away!! We were all silent and very still and watched her as she too posed for pics and then went to find her young in the bush near to where we were stood! Soon after another penguin came up the path and we saw the family together, all 3 of them. They were happy until another penguin came along and tried to interfere and the daddy penguin got grumpy and pushed him down the hill!! Hilarious! We have a video of this!! We had heard other penguins in the distance making their calling sound but we got to hear these penguins up close doing theirs!
A very exciting evening and now I want one!! We left the beach with huge grins! Even the park keeper who keeps an eye on them was impressed with what we had seen!