Oamaru isn’t much to look at when you first step off the bus, it looks like another basic NZ town until you reach the other side with its amazing Victorian-esque buildings, the cool and exciting steampunk artwork, the beautiful bay and the most adorable and smallest penguins in the world.
I arrived and walked to the I-site to see if they could hold my bag until it was time to check in at the hostel, unfortunately they were closed but luckily I was able to leave my bag at the hostel until I checked in. I grabbed what I needed and headed back out to explore the little town.
I headed first towards Steampunk HQ, which is a little museum with various steampunk creations: including cool space and sci-fi installments, several steampunk statues/animals, plenty of interactive parts to which you are encouraged to play with and enjoy, a dress up are to take your photo in Victorian/steampunk outfits and 2 cool trains that look like there straight out of ‘Mad Max’. For only $10 it is definitely worth the money.
Steampunk Steam Engine
I didn’t spend so long here before setting off to look around the Victorian edge of town, very different and unique Victorian buildings to the average New Zealand town. It includes some bars, cafes and there are also a few shops that sell various steampunk/Victorian items. I also saw a man riding a penny-farthing down the street, which was pretty cool.
Victorian Oamaru
I went back to the hostel, checked in and got settled before heading out again to catch the sunset. I walked along the bay towards the Penguin sanctuary.
Sunset on the Wharf
The Oamaru Blue Penguin Colony is mainly for tourism but also used for research and conservation. There’s two viewing periods, one during the day that costs $25 and another in the evening that costs $40. I was there in the evening but from what it sounds like its definitely the better option. The option in the day is just to view penguins in their habitat whilst the evening option lets you view the penguins coming in from their day out fishing, the penguins are ever so small and come in together in groups called rafts. Unfortunately cameras and video cameras are not allowed in the viewing area due to disturbing the penguins.
When I was wandering back around the bay in the dark there was a few people huddled in a certain area, I went to see what the fuss was all about and there were more penguins whom obviously don’t appear to head back to the centre. I watched from a distance as these cool little birds made their way up the rocky bank and into the bushes, when I reached town there were more that headed across the street and into the back of some of the Victorian buildings.
I’ve been in Palmy for around 8 weeks now, unfortunately due to my schedule at work, I tend to not have many days off which is a huge difference from when I was kiwi fruit pruning as I couldn’t get enough days of work. Anyhow, I’ve just completed my 28th day in a row, around 2 days a week I only do around 4 hours work and don’t start till 11:30am so have started counting those as days off, but for but the rest of them I’m working full days. Anyway, the whole time (8 weeks) I’ve worked here at the pack house I’ve only had 5 days off.
However, I’ve handed my notice in and will move on with my adventure on the 6th October. Moving on always seems so difficult but its always exciting. Although I am struggling on where to explore next.
I’m staying at Pepper Tree Hostel, its only around 2 minutes walk from the square (town centre), it’s a sort of quaint little hostel set in a 100 year old villa, one floor, several rooms and pretty cheap considering some of the other places I’ve stayed in at New Zealand. Unfortunately there’s not many people staying here, perhaps because its winter or because there’s nothing much to do here, although I wouldn’t know as I spend all my time working.
Whilst I’ve been in Palmy I haven’t really
done much, I’ve been for a few bike rides whilst I’ve been here, if your in
need of a bike in Palmy you can rent one pretty cheap from Green Bikes, I
planned to be here for 3 months and it only cost me $75 for the whole 3 months.
I cycled along a new cycle way, which is along the Manawatu river and through some woods and to Linton army base, it was a pleasant ride and only around 5km each way, unfortunately when I was returning the chain on the bike I rented snapped and I had to walk back, luckily I had enough time to take it to the shop and get it fixed, I then cycled up to an observatory and sat down to take in the views of the river meandering around the corner. I then crossed the river and cycled the opposite way where I found a bike park in the woods.
Manawatu river
I cycled to Manawatu Gorge which is just next to a small village called Ashhurst, it took around 50 minutes to get there by bike and then I did a short 3km walk around the woodland and gorge, there’s a larger trail you can do but it was 20km round trip and I arrived there just after lunch so I didn’t fancy walking in the dark. There were some beautiful views from the lookout points and a large Maori statue on the trail. The walk wasn’t very strenuous, some steep bits but altogether it was a lovely walk and something nice to do on my day off.
White Horse Rapids (Manawatu Gorge)
I have had some really cool experiences. Jill and Tony the owners of the company I work for are extremely lovely and friendly people. They have been supportive with my issues with my teeth and the problems I’ve had with the manager.
Anyway, I’ve visited their lovely farm and home three times now and had some rather unique and enjoyable experiences with them, they call themselves hobby farmers as they downsized their farm around 3 ½ years ago. They must have 200 or more lambs though. When I first visited I was going mainly to cycle around as the roads are peaceful and the fields go on for miles. Unfortunately by the time I arrived after work that evening, it was dark. Tony cooked me an amazing meal and we had some beers and chatted. The next morning when I’d had a lie in I awake to the most amazing view, hardly anything around apart from fields and lambs. I helped Tony feed the sheep and then picked up around 50-60 fence posts and loaded them into the trailer as Tony drove slowly along the edge of the field.
Sunset on the farm
My second experience felt more unique, I was invited along side another backpacker to stay at their farm and help with some sheep work. When we arrived we went out onto the fields and helped round up the sheep, we then led them to the pens ready for weighing, some of the lambs went straight into the pen whilst some of the others made their way across the cattle grid and towards the house, we just waved our arms and shouted to move them to where we needed them to be. After this we sent them down the race to get weighed one by one, then, we checked to see which lambs were clean and which ones were dirty, we gathered a few in a separate pen and then sent two down the race together so they wouldn’t be able to move, we then used a set of shears and sheared the shit of there bottoms to prevent them from attracting maggots and to make them more presentable for selling at market. This action is called “dagging”. It was incredibly fun to do and the experience was just amazing. After we finished we showered and relaxed and then were cooked an amazing steak for dinner and I had a few gin and tonics because, why not?
Trying my hand at dagging
Recently had another amazing experience, so I was invited to stay again, I went on the Friday night after work and helped with drenching (giving medicine) the lambs on the Saturday. The view from the farm was even better this morning as the sky was clear and I could see both Mt Taranaki and Mt Ruapehu in the distance. Tony got his boat ready and then we then headed to Palmerston for a short 4 hours work making noodles and then at 14:30 we left and made our way to Whanganui where we launched the boat and drove about an hour up the coast before stopping for an hour to fish. Ive never fished before so this was an incredible experience for me. Beer in hand and relaxing with the amazing views and sunset. I managed to catch 2 Snappers and 4 Blue Cod, I also caught two small sharks. From the area we were in you could see amazing views of both Mt Taranaki and Mt Ruapehu.
Unfortunately when we were just bobbing around on the boat and fishing, I got a little sea sick which is just a curse that seems to run through my family. We then returned to the Wharf and then back to Tony’s. Tony showed me how to fillet the fish and then he fried it in breadcrumbs. It was really nice and tasted perfect.
Trying my hand at DrenchingCaught a huge Snapper!
“Nothing ever becomes real till it is experienced”
Joe Bloggs 