The Oamaru Blue Penguin Colony provides visitors with an opportunity to see little penguins in their natural environment. In the evening, visitors are …
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4.1/5 · 1,019 reviews
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4-star
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3-star
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2-star
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Water Activities
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Mar 19, 2025
The viewing was pricey but worth it. At sunset the little blue penguins emerge from the water after a day or more of fishing, gather in little groups and make a run for it up the beach to their hutc…Full review by aml888
Mar 14, 2025
Penguins, although not many (about 80 to 100) were great, the near constant lesson in mandarin was not. An undisciplined audience required staff to frequently ask them to remain seated and be quiet.…Full review by jenniferwynn2
Mar 5, 2025
The penguins themselves are fantastic. What lets this down are the staff. I understand no photography - this keeps people seated and stops people trying to lean over each other for better shots. Wh…Full review by natashab519
Hi It depends where in Oamaru you are. You can look on Google maps for distance. We had a car but saw many people walking to a tour bus at the bottom of the hill. We did not …
Hi It depends where in Oamaru you are. You can look on Google maps for distance. We had a car but saw many people walking to a tour bus at the bottom of the hill. We did not see anyone walking all the way home. Sorry
Were you able to see the penguins come out of the ocean from the Premium Seating area or did you only see them once they were on the ground and walking past to their homes?
A:
We were in the regular seating area; I actually think we had a better view of the penquins coming out of the ocean and climbing up the cliffs. The premium seating in much closer …
We were in the regular seating area; I actually think we had a better view of the penquins coming out of the ocean and climbing up the cliffs. The premium seating in much closer to the area where the penquins make their dash from top of the cliff across a short grassy patch to their burrows , so at that stage viewers in the premium seating get a more close-up view.
Hi, We will be in Oamaru on March 23rd (if we get Visa on time). I need to know following: 1) when should I book the premium viewing tickets? 2) are the tickets refundable, in case our Visa doesnt come on time 3) what time can we expect to see penguins coming back to the colony 4) I have a back problem due to which i can not walk/climb steep heights. for reaching premium seating, do I need to climb or is it easily accessible? Thanks
A:
We took advice not to sit in premium seats as the view was better from the other stand. This was good advice for us. Also as we walked home we saw lots of the penguins on the …
We took advice not to sit in premium seats as the view was better from the other stand. This was good advice for us. Also as we walked home we saw lots of the penguins on the rocks of the promenade as they made their way home. We got really close to these penguins who seemed fine with our presence. Also when we saw them in Melbourne they didn’t seem as upset by humans as we had been told in New Zealand. I am no expert but that’s what we found.
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