When I was going to New Zealand kiwi the only bird I was interested to see. But when I was planning my last trip around South Island I read about couple places where it is possible to see penguins. It is not Emperor penguins but much smaller – blue and yellow eyed penguins but I never saw any penguins in the wild, so it was interesting to see them and added some places to my route.
Probably best place for penguin watching is Omaru town. There it is possible to see both kind of penguins. Every night they are coming back from the see to the land and you can watch both kinds at the same night even their colonies are on different sides of peninsula because yellow eyed penguins are coming back 1-2 hours earlier then blue eyed penguins. An hour before sunset go to Bushy Beach (about 5 minutes driving from city center) and wait in the hides for yellow eyed penguins appearing from the sea. Just be careful there are seals on that beach too, so don’t step on them 
After sunset go to blue eyed penguin colony. There is entry fee there and you watching penguins there. Didn’t find any places where it would be possible to see blue eyed for free in the wild in New Zealand. Let us know if you know any such place and check this web site for other places there it is possible to see penguins.
Map can be found here.
This is great information… I’m planning a trip to NZ soon and penguins are on my list of fun!
Did you trip over any seals?
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[...] 4 days agoMore updates…Penguins in New Zealand (map)March 9, 2011 Last year I wrote where to see penguins in New Zealand, but forgot to include map, so want to fix this now. Here are locations: A is Oamaru Blue Penguin [...]
No, I didn’t, but was close to that
Thanks for your information the penguin viewing site, I just about to make itinerary for my short trip to NZ, and I will put Oamaru to my destination..
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