This is a yellow eyed penguin, nesting high on a beach in Oamaru. His mate is behind him laying down by the stick. When we got here we were pointed to the beach where between 6-8pm, yellow eyed penguins, the rarest breed of penguin, come in overnight. The beach is closed off but there is a viewing platform. One occasion I wish I had a pair of binos! We were told we would see between 1-4 penguins. We saw 2 nesting and about 5 come out of the sea and waddle up the beach.... something really cool about seeing them in the wild!

So this morning was sunny as predicted and we headed back on ourself as described in previous blog, before coming back to the Lake for another spa. Unfortunately I put sun cream on my arms and legs and neglected to think that sun BURNS!! And now have a red front, bar my bikini!! Ouch!

Our drive form Lake Tekepo to Oamaru was pretty, long straight roads, hard to maintain the 100km/hr speed limit, but having spoken to a few tourists who have been booked I took no chances!

We are staying at the "Top Ten Holiday Park". Been wanting to stay here since the beginning of the holiday, as saw it on the plane and didn't realise it was a chain. We have seen them all over New Zealand and decided Oamaru would be the place. Nice contained unit, gorgeous bathroom!

After the excitement of the yellowed eyed penguins we returned to the park to cook some dinner, having to rent a kitchen pack to be able to cook, and some left over... Yum! Then we headed down to the blue penguin colony for the arrival of the penguins. You have to pay $25 to sit in a seated area in the dark and watch the rafts of penguins land and make their way up to shore. They were gorgeous! They come out of the sea on the crests of waves, shake off and cool down, quack at each other, re-oil their skin before heading up to their nests. No photos in the colony, but a few had escaped to the car park, but no flashes! Sometimes they hide under cars so we hoped one would be hiding under Lucy so we could steal it. Unfortunately that was not the case!

It was late when we left, another tick on the New Zealand to do list!