We are currently deep in the South Pacific. I am guessing that this may be as far south as I will ever be on this planet, but at least we saw….
Penguins
The town of Oamaru was a major economic centre of 8,000 people in New Zealand in the mid to late 1800’s (current population 13,000). Many of the same buildings still stand strong today, and are a reminder of the town’s Victorian-era developments.
In and around this town are some penguin colonies, and this is a definite must-see! We had the priviledge of encountering two different kinds of penguins. The first was a Yellow-Eyed Penguin. There are 5000 remaining in existance, and this particular colony has 25 of them. We got the good fortune to see 5 swim up to land and waddle into the brush just before dawn. This was very exciting, as one of the things I wanted to see while in New Zealand was penguins. These guys are about 70cm tall. Next, and just after dawn, we went over to a blue penguin colony, and watched about 25 of these little guys (they are little — about 20-30 cm tall!) swim ashore and head up the rocks to their nests. The blue penguins are interesting because they have a light blue coating on their backs. They usually stick together in groups, so between 5 and 10 all went up in a pretty tight group! (Check out more info at http://penguins.co.nz/ )
Christou and the Chololate Factory
Dunedin is home to the worlds steepest road (Baldwin Street, at a 37% grade), and is as far south as we will venture. This town is home to a Cadbury Chocolate Factory, and they offer tours, complete with free samples! Hey! Who were we to argue? So for two days prior, this was all we were talking about. It was pretty interesting, and even outside on the street beside the factory it smells like chocolate. Here is some of the neat things we were told:
- 10,000 (regular size) chocolate bars are created and packaged per hour
- New Zealand’s "energy" chocolate bar called Morro is consumed at a rate of one bar every 2-4 seconds
- Easter chocolate is produced between the months of June-January. It is a major portion of their business!
- http://www.cadbury.co.nz/cadburyworld/visit.html
Having seen Penguins, I will have at least one item checked off on my list (Penguins, Kiwis, Rugby). We never got to see any Kiwi birds. This flightless nocturnal creature, I am beginning to think, is a New Zealand legend that is used to fool tourists.
Observations: You know how your grandma’s house has those awkward sinks with separate faucets for the hot and cold water, and they are rammed right up by the edge of the sink, so that you cannot fit your hands under the water? Every sink in this country is like that!!!