DUNEDIN TO OAMARU

I decided to leave Dunedin today and just drive till i saw somewhere i'd like to stop. Along the way i had some lovely views because i didn't stick to the highway
A sign caught my eye The Boulders, OK lets go have a look. Turned out to be a bunch of boulders grouped together on the beach and while they were a strange sight i don't know if they were worth the long walk down the beach in cyclonic winds that were blowing off ice, my eyes were watering, so cold.
I came to a town called Oamaru and after a quick look around i decided to spend the night here. I followed a sign that said Yellow Eyed Penguins and came to a cliff with a path running down the side of it. Perched on this path were 2 other people who told me that around 6pm the Yellowed Eyed Penguin came up the beach so i went and got a room then came back. It was blowing winds to rival cyclone Tracy and was so cold.

The 3 of us stood there for 2 hours and were finally rewarded with this little lady who walked up the beach and straight to her rook where her babies were. It was such a special moment, gave us goose pimples. She knew we were there but must have sensed that we weren't a threat, we just sat quietly and watched...amazing.

Not long after 3 of these guys came out of the water and sun baked on the beach and i had a close up front row seat in the dirt....amazing.

This was the beach were we watched the penguins and seals.

sun baking

this doesn't look steep but it was possibly the steepest road i have driven on, the little car almost stalled, i was not happy but this was the road to the penguin beach so i had no choice.
Tonight i went to the penguin viewing area to watch the tiny blue penguins come out of the ocean and up to their rooks. It was amazing to watch them swim in like a raft all bunched up together. The only downer was not being allowed to photograph, although that didn't stop some people and the noise from the crowd of people who were there, they were constantly being told to stop talking but ignored the requests, the constant din really upset me and i left after 40mins. Some people just have no idea.

Tomorrow I'm not sure where I'm going, i may head up to Mt Cook, anyway ciao from Oamaru