Enjoy marvelous Oamaru : your ideal town to experience the real New Zealand: stunning landscapes, cute blue penguins, Victorian bed and breakfasts and award winning gourmet restaurants.

 

Things to do in Oamaru New Zealand

 

Oamaru established itself in New Zealand around 1850 with a sheep run around Oamaru Creek.

 

Today’s Oamaru is a small well preserved historical city, ideal for strolling and shopping around in shops that bring you back to New Zealand as it was in grandmother’s time.

 

Oamaru New Zealand candy shop: re-creating the taste of candy from grandmother’s time, yummies!

 

Admire little blue penguins in Oamaru New Zealand

 

Make sure to visit Oamaru in the morning or evening, as those are the 2 times of the day the resident Oamaru penguins go and return from the New Zealand east coast to feed.

 

Little Blue Penguins Oamaru NZ

 

These blue or little penguins – or korora as the Maori name them – are the smallest penguins in the world and can be found in many places around New Zealand and Southern Australia. However being so small and coming ashore only under the cover of darkness, you won’t see them much driving around in New Zealand. This makes the Oamaru Blue Penguin Colony the easiest place in New Zealand to view a good number of blue penguins as the observation centre is located just a 5 minutes drive from the centre of Oamaru: a must see on any visit to the South Island.

 

The Oamaru blue penguin colony is within walking distance of the town centre. You can also admire Oamaru’s yellow-eyed penguins: one of the world’s most rare penguin species.

 

Where to sleep in Oamaru New Zealand

 

When driving around in New Zealand by car, the best value for money you can get is staying overnight in motels.

 

For Oamaru we opted to stay in a bed and breakfast in stead of one of the Oamaru motels because we preferred to chat and find out from the local owners as much as possible about the easy pace of life in their city and where to go. Good idea, as they pointed us to the yellow eyed penguin colony.

 

Oamaru Accommodation : Anne Mieke Guest House

 

Anne Mieke’s guest house is a non smoking Bed and Breakfast a few minutes walk away from the blue penguin colony, the Historic Precinct, shopping streets, restaurants,Oamaru Information Centre and the Oamaru Gardens.

 

Where to eat in Oamaru New Zealand

 

 

The best Oamaru restaurant stands at the historical building called "Criterion Historical Bar". Food prices were moderate and the chef tries out a fine new cuisine based on local New Zealand produce. The coffee was perfect!

 

Oamaru New Zealand summarized

 

Oamaru is a pretty historical town on the west coast of New Zealand between Dunedin and Christchurch. A great place to stop and spend the night if you are touring the east coast by car and want to experience true New Zealand in a nutshell.

 

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