The ocean waves crashed on the shore and tossed the tiny swimmers up onto the rocks like any other flotsam. But these brave souls treated it like just another day at the office. They picked themselves up, shook off the water, and began to waddle, hop and jump from the rocky shore. After all, this is a nightly ritual for these tiny fishermen.

We were watching the evening migration of blue penguins returning to their homes on shore at the Oamaru Blue Penguin Colony in New Zealand. This protected space is home to as many as 200 overdressed marine avians, and the number is rising thanks to the organization’s conservation efforts.

Blue Penguins

Photo courtesy of the Oamaru Blue Penguin Colony

The blue penguin’s natural predators are all found in the ocean. These smallest penguins, often called fairy penguins, are preyed upon by sharks, sea lions, and leopard seals in the ocean, but they used to be safe on land. That was true until humans began to introduce new species to the island. The importation of dogs, cats, rats, ferrets, and stoats (weasel-like creatures) put the penguin’s land sanctuary in jeopardy. Penguin numbers declined, and this colony was established as a haven for these little guys to nest, rest and raise their young.

We were here in the evening to watch the stubby-legged birds return to their nest after a day of swimming and feeding in the ocean. Despite being less than a foot tall, these guys can swim with the best of them and often travel 50 kilometers (30 miles) in search of food for themselves and their young. Although they generally fish individually, they seek safety in numbers as they swim to and from the shore. The term for a group of penguins at sea is a raft, but it looks like a bunch of debris on the ocean while they are off in the distance.

Photo courtesy of the Oamaru Blue Penguin Colony

When they reach land, they don’t gracefully swim ashore. Instead, they are hurled up onto the rocks by waves in ways that look most unpleasant. But these tough little guys pick themselves up and march across the beach toward home. As they negotiated the rocks, they reminded me of a Marine unit moving inland. They hop from rock to rock, looking like soldiers moving forward in fits and then pausing to survey the terrain for threats before moving again. But once they reached the flat land, that changed.

As they paraded past us, they reminded me of business people coming home after a long day. Waddling slump-shouldered with the blue feathers on their back and wings, I couldn’t help but think how they looked like tired business people in trench coats, defeated by a long day at the office, reluctantly making their way to the subway. And, like many business people, they did not go directly home.

Photo courtesy of the Oamaru Blue Penguin Colony

Although I generally think of antarctic cold when it comes to penguins, these birds don’t live in that climate. Keeping warm isn’t the blue penguin’s problem, unlike their polar peers. Instead, they face the opposite issue, cooling down. So rather than go directly home, these guys hang out in little clusters like old friends meeting at a local bar after work. They mill around with their wings out to help them cool off from a long hard day of swimming in the ocean and avoiding sharks. Then when they are finally comfortable, they head to their nest.

We also saw young penguins milling around outside their nest. With adult feathers just beginning to show, they are in the awkward stage between child and adult. These adolescent birds stand around in small groups with no clear idea of what to do. They are getting too big for the nest but cannot swim in the ocean. They are not waterproof and thus can’t enter the water without adult feathers. So, just like human teenagers, they mill around directionlessly but are still cute in their gawkiness.

Photo courtesy of the Oamaru Blue Penguin Colony

SteamPunk Museum

The blue penguins were just one reason we visited the town of Oamaru on the east coast of the South Island of New Zealand. Another was the quirky Steampunk Museum. If you’re unfamiliar with the steampunk genera, it envisions an alternative reality where steam power remained the dominant form of technology. It makes for a weird juxtaposition of futuristic and retro, kind of how people in the Victorian era would have envisioned a high-tech future if they bothered to at all. Or like the world Jules Verne would have created.

The use of the term museum may be a little misleading. It’s more of an art display around the theme of steampunk. Exhibits range from locomotives repurposed to look like futurist war machines to “robots” built to look like crabs and other animals to costumes and a psychedelic light display. There is no absolute consistency in the presentations, which could make it all look like just a bunch of junk, but if you get into the spirit, it can be fun. I would recommend it for its sheer uniqueness if nothing else.

Victorian Precinct

Once you have had your fill of Victorian visions of the future, you can step one block over and see what the world looked like in actual Victorian times, or at least one street of that world. You have now wandered into the Victorian Precinct. This cobblestone-lined street is home to buildings that look like something out of Charles Dickens’s England. It feels like stepping back in time. I imagine that is especially true when it is filled with people in costume, as often happens during the many festivals and events here.

We wandered the street and mosied into the hotels, gift shops, boutiques, cafes, and breweries lining this street. Some establishments had taken to the theme, and the hotel had the feel of something out of a history page. However, some other shops felt like the same old kitsch tourist stuff in a different place. Nonetheless, there is a spacious cafe with good baristas for the adults and an indoor play area for the little ones, just like in Charles Dickens’s time.

Kiwis are Great

If all of that gets to be too much, you can head to one of the many restaurants and breweries in the area. The weather turned cold and rainy while we were out, so we arrived at our chosen dining establishment about thirty minutes before they opened. Seeing our predicament, the proprietress of this multi-generation family-owned eatery invited us to sit inside until they were ready to serve us. They even provided us with drinks in the bustle of preparing the establishment to receive guests.

We had a pleasant conversation with the owner and operator, who gave us the rundown on this long-standing establishment. As always, the Kiwis were open, friendly, and welcoming. The only thing better than the people was the food. It was a meal to remember for the quality of the dinner and dessert but also for the setting and the staff. I highly recommend dining at the Star and Garter if you can visit Oamaru. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did.

Conclusion

Oamaru was only the first stop on our tour of the southwest part of the South Island of New Zealand. From there, we continued to Dunedin, the largest town in this part of New Zealand, and then on to Queenstown for some adventure sports among the mountains. So check back or subscribe to follow along.