We’ve been lucky enough to see blue penguins (officially known as little penguins but everyone still calls them blue penguins) in a few different places, so when we arrived in Oamaru we were weighing up whether it was worth paying for the blue penguin experience.

I’d actually done it many years ago, but it’s changed a lot since then, so we decided to go for a second time. We also went looking for blue penguins independently and will take you through both experiences.

Here’s what to expect from a visit to the Oamaru Blue Penguin Colony.

As you cannot take any photos at the Oamaru Blue Penguin Colony, all photos in this article are from other places we have seen blue penguins, such as Melbourne.

Oamaru Blue Penguin Colony

The experience

Based in the harbour, the Oamaru Blue Penguin Colony is the big tourist drawcard for the city. They are open for viewing every night throughout the year, starting just after sunset. They have a MC who will tell you all about blue penguins and their habits, as well spot the rafts of penguins before they come ashore.

Once you take your seat, there will be a little wait before the penguins begin to arrive - the stands are based near their nesting area, so you will see them pass by when they come back from a day’s feeding at sea.

The little blue penguins that you will see are completely wild and following their natural behaviour patterns.

They will come up to shore in rafts, which can vary in size, some were as small as nine on our visit, and the first one had 94 penguins! They will then clamber up the rocks and cross the grass to make their way through to their nesting boxes.

The pathway is lit by warm flood lights to help you see them, which don’t disturb the penguins as they cannot see the warm light. We were lucky enough to see 244 penguins on our visit in winter, which is quite extraordinary as numbers are much lower in winter than summer!

The tours don’t run for a set time and they’ll generally let you sit there until the last rafts have come in, in our case this took around two hours.

Both seating areas are open air (with roofs) so you’ll want to bring warm clothes as it can be windy and cold even in summer.

The seating: premium vs general

There are two ticket options at the Blue Penguin Colony in Oamaru - premium and general. As you can imagine, the premium tickets offer a little more at an extra cost. At time of writing the difference in pricing between the seating options is $15.

We opted for general seating and though we had a great experience, with hindsight it is worth shelling out the extra cash for premium. There are a number of reasons for this.

The first is that almost all (225 of the 244 of our visit) penguins take the route to their nests via premium seating. The tunnels under the fence to their nests are directly in front of the premium seats, and you will see them much closer up than at the general seating.

Premium tickets also come with the chance to walk along the boardwalk where the penguins tend to hide underneath or waddle by, which you can’t access from general seating.

The second benefit is the fencing. General seating has a double fence, a small brown one like you have at the premium and a much taller black fence that does inhibit your view somewhat. It’s there to stop the fur seals making their way over the smaller fence which they only do on the general seating side.

For me these are the major differences and the reason I would just pay the extra if I went again. Premium seating also have seats with backs as opposed to concrete benches with no back, which is minor but still worth mentioning.

The downside to premium is that there aren’t that many seats so I would recommend coming early to make sure you are on the first two rows for the best viewing experience. You also can’t see the beach so you won’t see the moment they come ashore.

With the general seating we were lucky enough to visit when there were only 25 people (capacity is over 400) so we were able to move around and stand up to see over the fence. Were it to be full, it might not have been so easy a viewing experience as we had.

Nineteen penguins that came in had their nesting boxes close to general seating and as a result waddled right past us which did make my day, and was actually probably closer than people get in premium but just fewer of them.

The general seating area at Oamaru Blue Penguin Colony

Overall, unless there is an unusual event (such as fur seals directly blocking both tunnels by premium), then I would recommend premium over general seating. However, if it is too costly, then general is still a good experience particularly if you luck out with low visitor numbers.

Oamaru Blue Penguin Colony: the pros and cons

The Pros

You will (very likely) see an incredible nummber of penguins. Over 400 breeding pairs live in this colony and the numbers are increasing 10% each year. It is by far the biggest number of blue penguins we’ve ever seen.
The flood lights allow you to view them much more easily than you can normally as they tend to emerge under the cover of darkness.
You are supporting a conservation effort which is clearly working wonders. I couldn’t believe how many more penguins there were than my last visit.
You’re watching them in a controlled environment where you don’t have to worry about being near people who would crowd them which is sadly what we experienced in St Kilda in Melbourne.

The cons

Even though they are wild, the theatre seating and lights (though helpful) don’t make it feel like a very wild experience.
The fencing in general seating is quite obstructive and does hinder your view. If you sit higher up the stand you will see over the fence but then you are further away. It’s a trade off.
You cannot take photographs, I would have loved to have had the opportunity to take photos without a flash. I do understand though that this is probably due to people potentially using phones which can sometimes shoot with a flash even when you think it’s turned off.
It’s relatively expensive, but as this is for conservation I guess you can’t really complain.

Viewing blue penguins: paid vs free

There are opportunities to view little blue penguins in Oamaru without paying the entry fee, but you see far fewer, and when I say far fewer I mean we saw 10 in about the same time we saw 244 at the colony!

The other main difference is that you have some street lighting (but not much) and the penguins aim for the darkest patches so you can’t see them brilliantly well. They are also even more skittish than the ones in the paid for area.

Generally speaking, I much prefer viewing wildlife independently, but when it comes to Oamaru’s penguins the paid option has all the wow factor in terms of numbers and viewing experience.

If you do want to find your own handful of penguins they can be found in a few spots. We headed for the piers and old buildings near the end of Waterfront Road, and that’s where we saw 10, but all were in ones and twos, not a raft of ten together.

Just remember to keep your distance and stay quiet so as not to frighten them and stop them returning home. You can photograph them but not with a flash and as they move quite quickly or skulk in the darkness your chances are very limited.

Photography-wise you are much better off heading to the Taiaroa Head penguin experience in Dunedin which allows photography without a flash.

So is it worth the entry fee?

I would say definitely yes for the sheer number of penguins you’ll see, as well as the fact that it’s a very successful conservation project. If you are on a strict budget and you want an amazing penguin experience then I would recommend heading to Katiki Point Lighthouse for a truly spectacular Yellow-eyed penguin (hoiho) spotting opportunity.

Overall though, viewing 244 little blue penguins in one night was definitely one of the highlights of our trip to Oamaru.

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