We stopped in Timaru for the evening on our way back from Dunedin to Christchurch. After dinner, we walked through a small park to the harbor, where little blue penguins were rumored to nest. After having no luck in Omaru and Dunedin, our expectations were kinda low. It didn't help that the temperatures were in the 40's (single digit for you Celsius folk) and dropping. That's pretty chilly for Floridian thin-bloods.
We met some official wildlife conservation volunteers at the harbor and they told us they had been seeing several penguins come in after dark (9pm). Yay! So we stood around (in the cold!) for at least a two hours and were considering whether or not to continue this torture for the chance to see a penguin from some unknown distance. Then one was spotted in the rocks nearby - possibly a female waiting for her partner to return.
Now Melissa is hooked and there's no turning back. Yep, I'm standing in the cold for an additional undetermined (non-short) amount of time. (Night shot pics on the Pixel phones is pretty awesome even if my camera skills suck, although transformation to webp/webm for posting is lossy...all of these shots were after dusk)
It was worth it.
I heard sounds I never knew a penguin could make.
