From Snow to the sea

Day 3
Lake Tekapo to Oamaru

Today saw us wake up to snow. The rain last night had turned into snow and apparently there was a light coating on the ground early in the morning. We had a walk around the lake and through a shopping area. Looking at the souvenirs and beautiful jewelry in some of the shops. It was quite cold and windy outside and there were flurries of snow, so in the shops was a wonderfully warm experience. We then stopped at a bakery and had brunch before setting off. First stop was actually the church by the lake. We couldn’t see inside but it was a beautiful site on the outside but bitterly cold so after some photos we were off. As we were driving out of town the snow became quite heavy and a little concerning to drive in as it was building up on the road very quickly in parts. We thought we were back in outback Australia for a few kilometres driving on two tyre tracks but in the snow on the road not in the dirt. The views of the fields and paddocks in the snow were beautiful. The snow continued in varying amounts for quite away. The sheep, even the shorn ones, didn’t seem perturbed by it. We made a stop at one stage to see some Maori rock painting unfortunately the cave they were in had collapsed and not viewable. This part of the road trip took us from Lake Tekapo to Lake Pukaki to Twizel to Lakes Ohau & Benmore than onto Otematata followed by Lakes Aviemore & Waitaki. Lake Waitaki was also damed with a hydroelectric scheme and a huge dam wall right next to the road. From here we passed through Kurow and Dutroon before getting into Oamaru early afternoon.

The afternoon in Oamaru was very interesting as there are many old amazing buildings. After a chat with a very friendly ‘isite’ assistant we found our accomodation and had directions to the two penguin colonies, Yellow and Blue. First stop was the Yellow Penguins. After an absolutely freezing walk along a track we arrived at a viewing station looking down on the beach were the penguins are supposed to be. No sign of any yellow penguins, well they are the rarest in the world apparently. Looking down we did see some seals sleeping on the beach. We walked back to the van and drove to the Blue Penguin Colony. Very different story here. We waited in a covered seated area for the raft of penguins to come to shore after swimming for 50km during the day for krill. We saw roughly 120 penguins come in in rafts of about 40-50 over about an hour. Many of them had mates on nests with chicks. It was amazing seeing them slowly come up a ramp stopping periodically to rest and cool off. They ten waddled to their nests. About three weeks ago they fenced of the nesting area with two little entries for the penguins. A couple of the penguins were still having trouble finding their way in as they had corralled the main entrance and have basically a barcode scanner to help count the penguins as they have recently started microchipping as well as tagging them. At the end of the majority of the penguins returning to the nesting area four penguins wandered through the fence to where the remaining few keen spectators watched in awe as they waddled within a metres passing us by on the scenic route to their nests. The girls have now officially adopted a penguin each using some birthday money. Thankyou Nanna and Poppy.