Steampunk and penguins in Oamaru

Kia ora!

The final leg of our South Island campervan extravaganza found us in Oamaru. We’d passed through the town briefly on a short trip with Steve’s parents, and decided it was definitely somewhere to come back to.

Oamaru is quite unusual for New Zealand in that it still has a great deal of Victorian architecture. Strolling down the Victorian Precinct is a bit like stepping back in time (if you ignore the cars) with quirky boutiques and second hand bookshops galore. It’s clear that much of Oamaru’s economy relies on tourism and that, like Napier, the town’s achitecture provides an ideal backdrop for the various activities on offer.

This was especially apparent when we stumbled on “The Photo Shoppe”, a small photographer’s studio that takes Victorian portraits. Anyone who knows us will know that we love dressing up and will do it at every opportunity. We still had my sister’s birthday money, so we decided to get a portrait done! The eccentric but efficient photographer dressed us up (I had a wide choice of hats) and took us out into the street where we posed solemnly as amused tourists looked on.

Oamaru’s Victorian architecture is probably partly responsible for the town’s thriving Steampunk culture. I’m no expert but for those who don’t know, Steampunk can be summed up as “the future as it used to be”. It’s spaceships and ray guns but with corsets and steam power, and Oamaru is its home in New Zealand. A visit to Oamaru wouldn’t be complete without a visit to the incredible Steampunk HQ.

 

Inside the building are hundreds of weird Steampunk relics, all built from scrap by the team who work there. I don’t even know how to describe it, there was some really freaky stuff…

 

This guy’s backstory said he was lonely so he made these mechanical babies and then pumped them with his own blood…

The best part was the Infinity Portal. This was a small room completely covered in mirrors, with lots of dangly lights and eerie music. It was beautiful and mesmerising, and we did it twice!

The other big reason to visit Oamaru is actually very tiny! (see what I did there?) Oamaru is home to two penguin colonies, one of which is the smallest breed of penguin in the world: the little blue penguin. These guys are around 25cm tall and weigh just 1 kilo! The penguins at Oamaru, along with the seals who also hang out on the beach, are left to themselves with little human interference. There are no enclosures where they’re paraded around for our amusement, so if you want to see the penguins you have to follow their schedule. They come waddling ashore at night to return to their nests, which are in a protected area and are helped along with nesting boxes from the Department of Conservation.

Because the penguins always follow the same route, there are stands set up for human visitors to sit and watch the action. There is no photography or filming allowed and every effort is made not to disturb the penguins. After waiting in the cold for a while, we finally saw a parade of tiny penguins scurrying past us. The penguin man (not sure what else to call him) told us that, as the penguins had just been stocking up on food for nesting season, they were a bit plumper than usual. Some of them even fell over from the weight of what they’d just eaten! It was adorable and a great way to get close to penguins without interfering with their natural behaviour. As we walked back to the campsite we saw a few penguins wandering across the road, having taken a slightly longer route to their nests. Tourists in Oamaru are advised to check for the little things under their cars at night, and they’ve even been spotted strolling around the Victorian Precinct!

We had a great time in Oamaru; it’s a unique place and a must-visit if you’re in the South Island.