From Christchurch I took the bus to Oamaru. The road to Oamaru wasn't that inspiring, maybe I just missed the beautiful views on the mountains, as in other regions. But Oamaru is a nice town with a lot of old buildings, at the Pacific Ocean and it’s famous for its penguins.
You don't pronounce the first A in Oamaru. It has been raining a lot, but the shopping street has a roof over it, so you can walk from bus stop to hostel, without feeling the rain. The hostel is lovely, a building from 1867. A nice hostel, where I have stayed for three nights in a dorm (6 beds) , but there is a nice livingroom, where you can spend time reading your book and booklets and think about what to do next and of course talking with people from different countries And it’s nice to hear the stories from people who have traveled a lot more than me. It's great that I can do my own cooking here. In the afternoon I had my little walk in the old part of Oamaru, the Harbour & Tyne Historic Precinct.
On Sunday it has been rainy, but the Forrester Gallery was just two buildings from here, so no need for an umbrella yet. The gallery was nice, to see paintings of Oamaru in the last centuries. And I had such a pleasant conversation with the lady working there. In general other backpackers, I meet, are 5-10 years younger than me. And it just feels like I'm now doing finally what I wanted to do when I graduated from university, 10 years ago. But compared to this lady who will do her first long and far trip to Switzerland and Austria and who is 71, I'm really young. It was so nice to share some of my experiences traveling in this country and hear about other places that are worth visiting. Later I've visited the North Otagomuseum, with a lot of history, shops and stones. And there was a display about Janet Frame, a writer of books I've read and remember the places Oamaru and Dunedin from her books.
In the evening I went to see the yellow-eyed penguins, together with a German and Swedish girl. It is quite funny that I have met the German girl before in Taupo (on the North Island) and that the Swedish and German girl have met before somewhere else. Such a small world, full of backpackers. It was quite a long walk to see the penguins (we were outside for 3 hours), just when it’s getting darker. It was quite cold and windy and I was wearing the hood of my shirt and my jacket against the cold wind. But we did see a penguin close and two from a distance. And how they hop on the hill with both their legs on the same time.
On Monday I’ve enjoyed a hike of 3 hours in a beautiful area, a garden (with flowers of course) and Humpty Dumpty, and on a hill with some sheep and a great view over the city, the ocean and the surrounding hills. I haven't seen anyone for a while. Just hard to imagine that there was no one who wanted to enjoy this great area as well. There is no proper beach here, so I sat near the ocean for an hour at the old railway station. Later in the afternoon I've been swimming in the swimming pool, better than the cold ocean and it was funny to see, that “playing bomb”, splashing in the water is known all over the world.
Together with the German girl we went to see the blue penguins at the Oamaru Blue Penguins Colony. We had to pay 20 dollars (10 euro) and then we entered a kind of theatre, like we were watching a play. We had to wait 30 minutes and then the penguins came on stage. They were so cute and walked that funnily. They were just 30 cm's tall and we saw maybe 70 of them in little groups. I have packed a lot of useful things in my backpack, like gloves, binoculars, a warmer fleecesweater, but they were just on the wrong place at that moment (in my backpack in the hostel). And we didn't ask for a blanket, so we were really cold, but also very happy to see these penguins. We weren't allowed to take pictures, but to give you an impression how incredibly cute the blue penguins looked, I've found one nice picture on the internetsite.
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| 1-4/3 Oamaru |
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