Albatrosses and Blue Penguins

Today I'm going to finish telling you about our road trip together with Giigan's parents Eeva-Inkeri and Jaakko. Last time I left us in Queenstown, which was more or less only a eat-well-and-get-a-good-night's-sleep stop for us. The following morning we continued to Te Anau and Milford Sound, which we've already told you about. We were supposed to go on a cruise on Doubtful Sound the very next day (11th March), but a problem had occured with the operator's ship, so the cruise got cancelled. At first we were a bit annoyed by this unfortunate turn of events, but we quickly recovered and came up with alternative plans, mainly to the benefit of our distinguished guests.

While Giigan and I laboured in the kitchen of our hostel, earning remarks like "that's the best meal I've ever seen cooked at a backpackers'", Eeva-Inkeri and Jaakko went on a half-day tour to the Manapouri underground powerstation (more on it in a later blog post). In the evening, with only minutes to spare, we had time to drive them to the Te Anau cinema screening an exclusive 30 minute scenic film giving a unique bird's eye perspective of the Southwest corner of NZ, before rushing them to a tour of the glowworm caves in Te Anau. A few speed limits might have been broken that day, but I dare say a day can't be much more successful than that.

Ready for a day on the road.

Leaving Te Anau the next day, we drove to rainy Invercargill, where we quenched our thirst at the Invercargill Brewery and visited the Southland Museum. Most of the daylight left was spent driving to Dunedin, where we stayed the night. Fortunately the weather cleared up the next morning, and we had a great time showing the Otago Peninsula to Jaakko and Eeva-Inkeri. At the Albatross Centre on the tip of the peninsula, we even saw a couple of Royal Albatrosses lazily soar past. Mine and Giigan's highlight was visiting the Emerson's brewery, whose Pilsner was the first organic beer in NZ. Emerson's beers remain some of our absolute favourites over here.

Good times in Dunedin.

After a brief visit to Baldwin Street - allegedly the steepest street in the world - we left Dunedin and headed for Oamaru. We've written about Oamaru and Dunedin before, so I won't go into much detail again. Suffice it to say, that in Oamaru we visited the Blue Penguin colony. Blue Penguins are also called Little Penguins, because they don't grow taller than 25-40 cm. Their eyes and backsides are a beautiful blue color. They're quite charming creatures. For $20 you can watch them from a gallery as they come home just after sunset. Watching their arrival is very enchanting, partly because they behave so adorably.

In Oamaru the penguins have to climb a rocky ramp out of the water and cross a gravel walking track in order to reach their colony, comprising some 20 burrows on a green lawn. If this doesn't sound scary enough, most of the time there's a fur seal or two dozing not far away on the gravel track. Luckily for the blue penguins, NZ fur seals, contrary to leopard seals for instance, don't find the penguins to be any kind of culinary delight.

The penguins who are coming home for the night won't all arrive at the same time. Since they don't like moving alone over scary terrain on land, they'll wait for a few buddies to arrive before attempting to cross the gravel track. Even in numbers, scuttling the 3 or 4 metres from the edge of the ramp to the relative safety of the lawn, is no trivial undertaking. The group of four or so penguins will hesitate just on the edge of the gravel track, backtrack, inch a few feet forward, repeat, and wait for a leader that won't arrive, sometimes for a surprisingly long time. A serious attempt to cross is usually a result of the other penguins shoving one to the head of the pack, or everyone except one taking a step back. Once some penguins start crossing though, the whole business is over in just a few seconds, as no one wants to be left behind or be the last.

Something of a joke on the road to the penguin colony.

Watching this is very comical. Sorry to dissapoint you though: no pictures were allowed to be taken of the penguins, not even without a flash (thanks to all Asian tourists who can't operate their cameras properly). Here's an external picture of some blue penguins if you're curious as to their appearance.

Our last full day (14th March) in the company of Giigan's parents was spent walking along said gravel track that the penguins were afraid to cross, visiting the other attractions in Oamaru (Whitestone cheese factory, NZ Malt Whisky Company, Victorian-style buildings, etc.) and driving back to Christchurch. In the evening we celebrated the successful road trip at the Italian restaurant Cafe Valentino, eating and drinking like kings and queens one last time (kova paluu arkeen koitti meitä tämän jälkeen...).

The chefs at Cafe Valentino know how to put a smile on Giigan's face.

Many thanks to Eeva-Inkeri and Jaakko for visiting us here on the other side of the world. We enjoyed every second of your visit!

MORE PICTURES are available through this link.