We arrived in Oamaru (the town we couldn't pronounce) at around midday, after a 3 1/2 hour bus ride from Christchurch. Our hostel seemed nice, with a big log fire and cosy lounge. We were in a dorm room but we ended up having it to ourselves: benefit of travelling in winter. (downside: its bloody freezing).

Oamaru is a small town. It main attarction is that it is home to two penguin colonies. When we arrived we found out that the penguin viewing didn't start until around 4 o'clock. We went out and got some shopping, had lunch and chilled in the hostle until about 3.30pm when we set off in search off penguins. The first colony was a fair walk away. It is for yellow-eyed penguins. You aren't allowed to go on the beach after 3pm, you have to watch from a viewing area up on the cliffs. Alan was disappointed cos the peguins were quite far away. We saw three in total coming in from a hard days fishing and waddling off to their nests in the bush. There were also two seals lounging on the beach which was a bonus.

After a bit we walked back to the blue eyed penguin colony near the docks in town. We were disappointed to find they had screened off part of the beach and were charging people 8 quid to go and see penguins which was a bit of a cheek. We dedided not to bother and headed back to the hostel.

Luckily while we were cooking tea someone shouted that there were penguins in the hostel car park to we ran out to look. Sure enough there were too mini penguins hiding under someones car. We terrorised them for a bit taking photos and shining torches on them. They were really cute. After that we had a massive plate of bangers, mash and beans and watched a video with some other travellors before bed.

In the moring Alan went for a well needed hair cut in a local barbers/tobacconists. A real local no nonsense mens place. In the afternoon we went for a walk along the cliffs and in the woods. We saw some good deserted rocky beaches. We saw a seal but when we went closer to investigate it was dead. Stil, a seal is a seal. We also saw loads of big birds nesting above us on the cliffs. Alan got splattered with bird poo, which was funny. In the evening we went to a local cheap cinema to see " The Hnagover". It was quite funny. We got back to the hostel quite late, made a massive tuna pasta bake before beds. There was plenty left over for breakfast too mmmmmm. The next day we checked out to get the bus to Dunedin.