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.
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.
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.
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.
“Noot noooooot”
Pingu
Joe Bloggs 