Oamaru, New Zealand Travel Blogs

Giant's Marbles
Jan 10, 2007 (4 photos)

... and the hordes of tourists took away some of their mystique.   After coffee to warm us up, we wet north to Oamaru for lunch at the wonderful cheese factory by the sea, then turned west towards Mount Cook National Park. We visited the Maori rock ...

What a day!
Feb 8, 2008 (24 photos)

... too. I found a place to call home for the night. I walked around town and had a beer by myself in an antique bar at Oamaru's "historic district". Bitter. The beer, not me. I was sour. Both (and only) pairs of pants that I own ripped today due to ware ...

Visiting the Penguins
Apr 6, 2005 (10 photos)

... the $15 to see the blue ones (and you weren't allowed to take photographs/videos). We've certainly noticed that New Zealand is expensive (though probably not as pricey as Australia). Probably just trying to keep the economy afloat with tourist dollars. ...

Penguins ... sort of
Aug 8, 2009 (8 photos)

... . Oamaru didn't really have anything there; it was a sort of neat little town with plenty of old buildings (our hostel was an old hotel). We took advantage of the lack of activity to see the new G.I. Joe movie, but that was pretty much it for Oamaru.

Oamaru
Apr 17, 2007 (1 photos)

... Victorian railway station, the Octagon (main, octagon shaped, square) and wandered a little more (including past Cadbury's World New Zealand) before heading on. Our next stop was the Moeraki Boulder, surreal rock spheres sat in the surf. We nearly ...

Why did the Penguin Cross the Road?
Dec 21, 2006 (5 photos)

... along the way such as the Pelennor Fields Battle from Lord of the Rings as we passed Twizel. The little YHA in Oamaru was a world away from that in Mt Cook with it being little more than a converted bungalow although a cosy one with a huge ...

Unhealthy Fears
Mar 8, 2005 (2 photos)

... updating the Travelogue a little and a gloriously hot shower, we left in the early afternoon along the East coast and on to Oamaru. For some inexplicable reason, we were all in very high spirits when we arrived at the 'Top 10' after shopping for supplies. ...

The Penguin Express
Mar 5, 2004

... way between Christchurch and Dunedin. I stayed in the Red Kettle Youth Hostel which was very comfortable and friendly. Oamaru is the Penguin capital of New Zealand so I booked on the Penguin Express to go and visit them. Bruce and his bus picked me up ...

The next place that took our fancy to stop ...
Nov 14, 2002

... as to the outcome but I don't have to put that hat on for another few months yet! We were actually headed for Oamaru which is a pleasant older style town with some buildings that are actually older than 100 years!! (We've hardly seen any at all in the ...

Immer wieder Jenny...
Mar 6, 2007

... reinzuziehen - wer kommt voll beladen zur Rezeption gestampft? Jenny. Ich mach dann meine tolle Wwoofing-Erfahrung, lande in Oamaru. Wer kommt gestern voll beladen zur Rezeption gestampft? Ihr solltet es euch denken koennen. Wir haben daraufhin mal ...

Day 26 - March of the Blue Penguins
Jan 10, 2006 (9 photos)

We reluctantly left Mt. Cook for Oamaru on the coast. I had received an email from dad, intrigued by our visit to the glacier and asking me to bottle a sample of the glacier water and sending it to him by UPS so he could have it tested for purity. For ...

If It's Thursday It Must Be Penguins
Oct 20, 2006

... the hostel for a number of months; and a Canadian couple just out of college who are travelling for a couple of months in New Zealand and Australia before returning to Toronto to search for jobs (they too came to Oamaru just to see the penguins). While ...

Mt Cook
Nov 30, 2008 (3 photos)

... tarn but that is clearly not on. We drive up to the head of the Tasman valley to Mount Cook Village. Here there is New Zealand's best known hotel, The Hermitage, parked like a grey-blue battleship, dominating the settlement. A bit further on is a good but ...

Headed South...Photo Shoot in Oamaru
Apr 2, 2008 (21 photos)

We've headed south on Highway 1 and have arrived in Oamaru.  We stayed at a Top-10 campground, nothing special, and paid $14 each to sleep in the van.  This would be the first and last time we would lodge in this fashion.  We have learned ...

Oamaru
Feb 24, 2008 (11 photos)

... ! And Yes, I turned on the wipers instead of the blinkers many times! But once I got the hang of it I was driving like a Pro! New Zealand has round-abouts instead of traffic lights in a lot of the towns that are on the main highway. It is such a brilliant ...

Oamaru - back in time
Jan 14, 2009

... rocks reside. This is an odd tourist attraction. Must have been some weird volcanic activity, i canīt explain it. Arriving in Oamaru you are taken aback as it seems like some version of Beamish. There hasnīt been any development for over 50 years so the ...

ET Phone Home
Feb 5, 2007

... since being in NZ - naughty I know... had a great chat with everyone though. We then set off and drove to the town of Oamaru... a township of 12,000 people, not many... but the town is pretty and is famous for its Seals, Blue Penguins and Yellow Eyed ...

Oamaru: Blue Penguins and Blue Cheese
Mar 28, 2007

... out" at the end of the night. Good thing this was the last penguin site on the schedule. Dad's favorite stop in Oamaru was the Whitestone cheese factory. They make over a dozen organic cheeses, their most famous being their Windsor blue cheese. 1883 ...

Yellow Eyed Penguins
Apr 25, 2007 (2 photos)

After a fairly short drive (by our standards) we arrived at Oamaru - the home of the most northerly colony of yellow-eyed penguins - the rarest in the world. It's quite a small town and also has a colony of the little blue penguins we saw at Philip Island ...

Campa vans are cool!
Jan 19, 2006 (10 photos)

... We got our van a few days ago and have been in the Mt Cook region, and are currently on the east coast in a town called Oamaru. Our van is blue - which is a lot better than having a white one with the hire company's logo plastered all over it. It is ...

Oamaru
Feb 14, 2008 (6 photos)

So we were on our way back to Christchurch when we stopped in for a coffee in this town. It was so different that we decided to stop the night! The streets are all really old, with lots of fabulous art galleries and shops. It was all very Victorian, even ...

Dunedin to Oamaru
Feb 7, 2007 (7 photos)

... 13 feet across, sit on the beach, after being washed down from the cliffs. Our destination today is the coastal town of Oamaru where we stay at the Empire Hotel. Oamaru boasts many buildings built using the local limestone around the turn of the century. ...

Oamaru
Mar 17, 2008 (2 photos)

Samantha - This was a fairly short stop, and really just an opportunity to see a couple more species of penguin. We arrived just as the sun began to shine, mid-afternoon and went straight out after checking-in (or chicken-in, as it is pronounced here!). ...

Coastal Otago
Mar 15, 2008 (27 photos)

My first coach trip from Christchurch was a success. It was straightforward and I got to see New Zealand countryside along the way. I arrived in Oamaru with the plan to see the penguins in their natural habitat. On my first day I did the skyline walk ...

Oamaru - penguins yay!
May 30, 2007 (1 photos)

... swam on to the beach and waddled in front of us to their nests.  They were absolutely amazing - soo cute!  One of them was curious about us and we had to stay really quiet.  It came really close and was a magical moment. Oamaru is great.

Picking up penguins
Aug 19, 2007 (2 photos)

... up by the camper people who seemed laid back to the point of comatose. Finaly got going and managed to arrive at Oamaru to see yellow eyed penguins and little blue penguins arriving at their colonies. Camped one the harbour front with penguins calling ...

Big balls
Jul 16, 2007 (6 photos)

We made an additional stop on the  way towards christchurch. Stopping in about 40kms from Oamaru, in another popular tourist spot. the main attraction being the Moeraki boulders which are scattered along the beach. These boulders ...

Skipping
Apr 9, 2009 (41 photos)

... in the blanks. But this is not that 'one day' today I'm just skipping ahead to now, for Easter the season of new beginnings is almost here or on South Island, NZ the season where everything dies because its really really COLD is here. After Hannah's ...

Moeraki Boulders and Oamaru Penguins
Jan 15, 2009 (10 photos)

... talk as if they are from 1868.  Later that evening we visited the natural breeding ground for the yellow-eyed penguin.  New Zealand is the only country to find this rare breed of penguin and Oamaru is one of the only places to witness the ...

After Mount cook - in Oamaru
Feb 22, 2006 (10 photos)

... I walked slowly and easily on a horizontal plane, enjoying the warm sun and eating an energy bar... excellent. :) Now I am in Oamaru, on the east coast, after a somewhat unpleasent night at Omarama. Not that bad, but not clean and full of moths. ...