New Zealand - Day 7 (Lake Tekapo

New Zealand - Day 7 (Lake Tekapo - Oamaru)

- December 28, 2012

The temperature was -2'C when we woke up in Merino Country Farmstay, Lake Tekapo. We were so excited to see thin layer of ice flakes on a lawn. The owner, Greg and Nicola prepared breakfast for us - bread, croissants, cereals, fruits such as peach & pears, variety of jams, fresh milk & orange juice and yogurts.

After we had our breakfast, Greg brought us to see his farm. We only managed to see few of his sheeps and the rest were no where to be seen! Sad... as we were hoping to see more animals since we were staying in a farmstay. He then drove us to Lake Tekapo and Mt John. The view from Mt John was amazing. We saw Lake Tekapo and the surrounding mountains, the Earth & Sky Mt John Observatory and many telescopes on the site. There's also night time stargazing tour at Mt John but we didn't take the tour.

We spend around 1 hour in Mt John before heading back to the farmstay to pack our things. We bid farewell to the lovely couple and continue with our journey. We had our lunch in MacKenzie's Cafe Bar & Grill, Lake Tekapo. I ordered a grilled chicken burger and fries while my partner ordered the Land Lovers Trilogy of beef, pork and chicken cooked in a stonegrill.

"Stonegrill is an exiting interactive dining experience that allows your meal to be presented cooking on a hot stone at your table. The high temperature of the stone sears meat quickly and seals in all the natural juices resulting in a taste beyond anything else you have experienced. Stonegrill is also one of the healthiest method of cooking as all produce is lean and trimmed of fats and no added oils are used in the cooking process."

After we had our lunch, we drove our way to Oamaru for penguin viewing. We saw two types of penguins - yellow-eyed penguins and blue penguins.

Yellow-eyed penguins or hoiho are shy and easily disturbed. They feed on fish, mainly opal fish, silverside, sprat, ahuru and red cod. To reach preferred fishing grounds, the penguins may swim up to 40km offshore and dive to depths of up to 120m. On mainland New Zealand hoiho struggle to maintain their numbers because of the lost of coastal forest habitat and the death of many chicks each year from attacks by stoats, ferrets and wild cats. Dogs are the greatest threat to adult penguins.

Best time to view the yellow-eyed penguin is in the breeding season between October and February, late afternoon or early evening when the birds come ashore. We went to Bushy Beach to view the yellow-eyed penguins as a small number of them breed in this area. We reached there around 4.30pm and we were so lucky as we managed to see one of the yellow-eyed penguin so near to the viewing area.

After viewing the yellow-eyed penguin in Bushy Beach (free of charge), we rushed to the Oamaru blue penguin colony for the evening viewing of blue penguin. You will get to see blue penguins one hour before dusk every night as they return home from their days fishing, make their way onto the beach, up a stony ramp, and cross into the Colony.

We were seated in an outdoor viewing grandstand and get to listen to an information commentary about blue penguins given by one of the staff. Blue penguins or Korora are the world smallest penguins. They are approximately 30cm tall, weigh around 1kg as an adult, and live to about 8-10 years old. We were not allow to take any photos of the blue penguins because they are easily frightened by lots of noise, movement and bright lights. Entrance fees - $125 for 5 adults and 3 school aged student. Later we found out that we can actually view the blue penguins from the carpark!

We had KFC grilled chicken for our dinner and it was delicious. The chicken was tender and juicy. It came with a peri-peri sauce which was simply superb when dipped with the grilled chicken. We stayed in Heritage Court, Oamaru which was our last night in New Zealand...