We have had a wonderful week with our "extended family" (as Dax calls us , lol) but today it was time for us to leave Queenstown and head to Oamaru. Even though it was a three hour drive, we were all very excited to have the chance to see our first penguins. Enroute we stopped off at AJays bungy zone and watched a few jumpers. Their motto was "swingers have more fun," As Derek had already bungy jumped, he said he didn't need to do it again and I had no interest in it so we left. We did try to talk Braden into jumping, but no luck. We stopped at Lindis summit and had a picnic overlooking a beautiful valley that reminded Derek of Death Valley, Nevada . Another pit stop was to learn more about the Vanished World Trail. Here we saw many fossils and artwork that have been recently discovered. The artwork was painted on limestone rock walls by the Mauri people and some have been chipped away and placed in NZ museums. Finally we made it to Oamaru. As we approached the city, we were a little disappointed with the way it looked. Braden said it was an upscale Trenton! But as we found our accommodations, near downtown, we noticed it was actually quite nice. There are beautiful limestone buildings, parks (with zip lines ) and gorgeous gardens with beautiful walking paths. We went out for an Italian dinner at Cucina's and then drove to find the Penguins. We were not allowed to go onto the beach past 3:30pm because the Penguins would avoid the area if people were there. So, we walked along the viewing paths and waited patiently. Carter and Braden first saw seals laying on the beach. Then a few more swimming and putting on a show in the water. They were very excited with their findings. But then it happened..... I saw this little bird like figure swimming in the waves. I was not sure if it was a penguin but watched it carefully wash up and down with the tide. Finally it escaped the force of the tide and stayed grounded on shore, stood up and started waddling up the beach. I started calling for the boys. This yellow eyed penguin was a ways away for them to see and the pics I took were not in focus, but we saw one and that is all that mattered. Then a big one waddled out of the water right below where we were standing. Braden thought it was quite fat for a penguin:-) it waddled around for a while and we got a few pics of it, but just watching it was amazing. This penguin looked like it stood about two feet tall. These flightless birds sure put big smiles on our faces. Derek came across a nest with a baby penguin in it which was quite accidental to see. We were told that we were very lucky to see three of these kinds of penguins because they haven't been coming around lately. Now you have to understand that we were not on a tour or in a sanctuary, rather just hanging out on Bushy beach in hopes of seeing Yellow-eyed penguins and we DID!!!!!
Tomorrow we hope to find the little blue penguins. Stay tuned:-
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