January 20, 2023: The road trip stop at Oamaru gave our first close encounters with New Zealand’s unique wildlife: the world’s smallest penguins, the little blues.
“BARK BARK!”
Annoyed New Zealand Fur Seal
(Hey, back off buddy!)
The Little Blues
Oamaru lies in a sheltered bay midway down the coast between Akaroa and Dunedin. While the town offers some interesting Victorian architecture and a quirky steampunk museum, visitors are primarily drawn by the colony of little blue penguins.
Little blues are the worlds smallest penguin, standing only about a foot tall. A colony of these tiny slate-blue birds nests at a protected reserve on the edge of Oamaru Harbor. The adults put out to sea at dawn, fishing miles offshore. At dusk, they return, waddling up the steep rocks to their inland burrows. Fun fact: a group of penguins on land is indeed called a “waddle.”
Our guide for the evening was a young marine biologist from North Carolina who had moved to Oamaru for love of penguins. She briefly lectured, and then all grew silent at dusk as the penguin raft approached. Second fun fact: a group of penguins at sea is indeed called a “raft!”
Grandstand seating allowed us a fine view of the tiny birds, but pictures were not allowed, lest we agitate the parents and distract then from their chicks. I found this one though to give you a sense as the little blues began to emerge from the sea. The sight of hundreds of these little guys clambering up and waddling by was amazing.
The onsite museum maintains live infrared cameras into the little blue’s burrows so biologists can monitor the chicks. You can watch online at the museum website. The site also contains interesting information about the little blues annual cycle.
Oamaru
After our drive down from Akaroa, Jean and I enjoyed a late lunch at The Criterion hotel. We had hiked Hinewai Reserve that morning, so were hungry! The salmon and beef were great, but the best part was a sampling of local whisky, as fine as anything in Scotland. We wandered by the Steampunk Museum, but time was short, so we checked-in to our hotel and headed on to the colony of little blues.
Running around Town
I capped our short visit to Oamaru with a run the next morning. Enroute I paused to snap a pretty picture of pier covered in seabirds. Eyes on framing my photo, I bellied up to a rail fence above the rocks for the shot. Suddenly, I heard a loud “BARK, BARK” and almost jumped out of my shoes. This little guy was literally right at my feet. I’m lucky I didn’t fumble the phone and drop it down his gullet!
After my heartrate returned to normal, I snapped his photo and continued the run, chuckling under my breath all the way.
Next up on the road trip… the Moeraki Boulders and Shag Point.
