Oamaru

Travelling south my next destination was Oamaru. While travelling in that direction I passed a Salmon farm. Which produces the best quality of salmon due to the fact that the water is so cold that no bacteria can exist. The salmon is exported to Japan to supply the sushi restaurants. At Lake Tekapo I visited the local Japanese restaurant as well to taste the salmon. In short I bought a piece of Salmon fillet at a real bargain price. 

Arriving in Oamaru the backpackers was really nice and i was really tired, so I slept during the afternoon. In the evening there was a lucky pot dinner, this was really good, everyone prepared a dish and then all dishes were joint to have a feast. Some New Zealand guys made mussels with a coconut gravy, then a Malaysian girl prepared chicken, and I prepared the salmon, we also had pasta salad and we had a really good desert called orange and banana crumble with a ginger crust and a nice cake.This was also a really good opportunity to mingle with the other backpackers. 

On the 2nd day in Oamaru i visited the town, which is known for its Victorian buildings. Visiting an old style (19th century) dutch bakery. In the evening initially a BBQ was planned however due to weather it became again a really nice joined dinner. Having steaks and sausages from the local meat plant. Some local guys working there explained that this was the first meatplant in the world to ship frozen meat and as such has an excellent reputation abroad. So all their meats are being exported, mainly to England. 

The next day I woke up with a slight hangover and as such slept a little bit more then usual. In the evening it was time to do some Pengiun watching. In town there are 2 options to view penguins, the blue penguins are commercial and cost 20 dollars. However the yellow eyed penguins can be seen for free.While going there I was lucky enough to see a penguin come ashore, and later on even one going towards it's nesting site up the hill. A local guide explained that this year only 7 couples were breeding and that the yellow eyed penguins could not be bread as easily as the blue ones. He actually started the blue penguin watching site with 14 couples and now there are 280. After retirement he started to offer tours to visit the nesting sites, however now this is considered to be to intrusive. In the evening we played regenwormen, it was a really good decision to buy the travel version. I have enjoyed playing this game already quite some times in NZ. 


The next morning I woke up sick (sore throat) having a bad night of sleep, and having to visit the toilet to frequently. So most of the day i slept and in the evening I took some asian girls to watch the penguins. And again we could see a penguin near it's nesting site, this time even closer then the previous day at  distance of only 2 meters. 

Today I am doing my laundry and we will visit the Moeraki Boulders and tomorrow I will travel to Dunedin to continue my trip of the South Island.  Honestly the backpackers in Oamaru is so far the most relaxed one yet at which i stayed. It is an old estate from 1880 and the people here are all really relaxed and most of them are WOF'ers. Woofing is working on organic farms. Which is working a couple of hours a day and then you receive 'kost en inwoning'.