Oamaru Blue Penguin Colony: Sanctuary for the Smallest Penguins in the World
The Oamaru Blue Penguin Colony is a natural colony of the smallest penguins in the world, the blue penguins. I had been told that photography wasn’t allowed inside the Oamaru Blue Penguin Colony because the New Zealand government wanted to protect the penguins. So I could only take pictures of the building and the outside of the colony. But we did buy tickets and entered the colony so we could see the penguins.
The entrance was made of wood and there was a large banner in front welcoming visitors to the Oamaru Blue Penguin Colony. When I was visiting, it was nearing evening time. The lights had been lit inside the building. I first looked around to see if there was any kind of information about the penguins and the work that the New Zealand government was doing to take care of them.
There was a large information board with a lot of information about the penguins and the area. The park was called the Waitaki Whitestone Geopark and I found out that it was formed by a volcano under the sea. The underwater volcano made this place, which was called Cape Wanbrow, really unique. The little penguins lived near the Oamaru Harbor. And they were so small that they measured only 30cm in height and weighed 1kg. There was also information about the other beaches and harbors near the Oamaru Blue Penguin Colony.
The building didn’t seem very big from the front. This was the entrance to the penguin colony. It was where we would need to go through and buy our tickets. There were hills and cliffs behind the building. The sky still looked quite blue.
They had even decorated the space according to the penguin theme and there were pictures of penguins on the windows. It looked really cute and I liked how they were paying respect to the penguins.
I also found a plaque to commemorate the centennial of the harbor board. Important dates from the last hundred years were printed there. The plaque had been made in 1976 since the harbor board had been founded in 1876. But the harbor had been running long before that. They had even recorded how many tons of material had passed through that port. I thought that was very interesting information.
The plaque was right outside the entrance of the building. It was attached to a big rock and there was a wooden fence and plants all around it. It looked very pretty and natural.
