Day 124 Oamaru

After our late night we decided to lay low for part of the morning.  We wanted to spend some time planning the rest of our time on the South Island.  We have reached the 4 month mark of our 6 month trip.  The time has gone by unbelievably fast.

The Red in lower part of Island is January Travels

When we did finally get moving we decided to walk downtown for lunch, a late lunch and to have another look at the downtown area.  In walking from the Holiday Park we had the option of walking through The Oamaru Public Gardens.  The park is quite large and it was much more enjoyable than walking on the streets.  It also took us longer to get downtown as we kept stopping to take pictures.

We finally reached downtown and had, instead of lunch, an early dinner.  We didn't spend a lot of time downtown as we had to get back to the camper to get ready to go Penguin viewing again. 

On the way out to the viewing area we went up to Lookout Point for a few of the city.  It was very overcast which didn't allow for very good pictures but it did give us a view of the entire city.

Last night we had the opportunity to view the Blue Penguin.  Tonight we were going to see if we could get a glimpse of the Yellow Penguin.  Tonight's opportunity was free and a little further out of town.  It was on a bluff overlooking the beach where they come in from the sea.  Unfortunately it started to rain as soon as we got there. 

The Yellow Eyed Penguin is very rare and is on the endangered species list so we wouldn't be able to view them in the numbers we saw the Blue Penguins.  Also they hunt and return to their nests as singles so we would only see them one at a time.  We were up quite high but we could get a good look with the binoculars.  My telephoto lens also brought them in fairly

close.

Chick waiting outside of nest

There were also a few fur seals having a little snooze on the beach.  They are not a predator of the Yellow Eyed Penguin. 

We were starting to get quite wet by this time so we packed it in and started back for the camper.  In spite of the rain it was a pretty interesting evening.