Today we drove on to Oamaru, a small historic town (in NZ terms anyway) on the east coast, and home to a colony of Blue Penguins, who every night return to their homes at dusk and cross infront of a grandstand packed full of people.

The colony was set up after the harbour had been renovated, and people realised that they had displaced dozens of blue penguins (also called Little Penguins, as they are the smallest species of penguin), so some locals placed nest-boxes at the shore and pretty soon they were all full with Blue Penguins.

We arrived at 8pm for a quick talk and tour, as well as to look into some of the nest-boxes at chicks, before taking our seats in the grandstand just before dark. The area is lit by an orange light, so it does not disturb the penguins but so we can see them, and photography is banned (though the French decided that didn't apply to them, the cheese-eating surrender monkeys!).

The penguins go out to sea at sunrise (about 4.30am) and return after feeding all day at dusk (8.30pm), and congregate a little way out to sea in groups called rafts, so you can see a small shadow out at sea as they make their way in to shore. They also travel up to 100km's a day as they fish. As they arrive you hear them from a way out, as they make so much noise, and each raft contains dozens at a time.

As they beach themselves, they stop off for a quick oiling of their feathers, before heading up the ramp right infront of the waiting crowd. They then make there way to their homes, though sometimes get stopped by other's chicks, as the chicks try to get food from anyone. Some of the adults were almost fighting off other penguin's chicks as they try to get food. The adult penguins then regurgitate their food to feed the young.

After a while we left the grandstand to get closer to the nest-boxes, as most of the action happens here as the chicks are fed and the adults socialise and try to pull. Apparently the lower the call, the more attractive the male is to the female, as it means he has more fat around his neck and hence is a good fisherman and provider. Size does matter!

After about three rafts came and went, the cold got too much for us (we did our washing today so had no warm clothes dry) and we left. On the way out there are penguin crossing signs, which we thought were a joke but soon realised not, as we saw about half a dozen penguins walking across the road on the way out. They even check under the cars, as some of them have been known to go under the cars for a rest. The locals did used to lay traps, as many penguins nested under their houses, and because of the noise became pests, but now they call the penguin centre and they remove them.

Next we head back to the Southern Alps.