Guest Blog & Photos by Edwin Ouellette
With their beady little eyes, endearing waddle, and classy sense of fashion penguins are indisputably the world’s coolest bird. Practically since infancy, penguins have been my favorite animal. So when I decided to study abroad in New Zealand, I knew I’d have an excellent opportunity to see penguins in the wild. I would find myself a penguin, or die trying.
New Zealand is home to six species of penguin including the rockhopper, blue, erect-crested, Fiordland, Snares, and yellow-eyed penguin. Upon arriving in Dunedin, I quickly learned that nearby Sandfly Bay on the Otago Peninsula is a hotspot for viewing yellow-eyed penguins, a.k.a. hoiho (Māori term literally meaning “noise-shouter”). In fact, Lonely Planet Travel Guides rated the Otago Peninsula as one of the top ten places for birdwatching in the world.
My cronies and I quickly headed to the downtown visitor’s center to find out the best way to get there. The blue-vested employee at the counter was probably the only unfriendly Kiwi in the entirety of Aotearoa. “You probably won’t see any,” he said. “People like penguins, but penguins don’t like people.” That day we did not see penguins – apparently the bus routes didn’t go anywhere near Sandfly Bay. I was bummed, but my spirit was not broken.
Several weeks later, my flatmate, Dave “D McCheese,” and I once again attempted the sojourn to Sandfly Bay. Dave had just purchased an old beater Subaru Justy a few weeks prior – we were in business. Due to Dave’s rusty manual driving skills and the unnatural feeling of driving on the left-hand side of the road, it was a harrowing trip. Miraculously, the Justy arrived at Sandfly in one peice.
We parked the car and dashed down the steep dunes to the beach below. It was an almost perfect day. Thankfully there were no sand flies, but the wind was causing the sand to fly across the dunes. We drank in the fading sunlight and the picturesque scenery. “Ah, this is why we came to New Zealand,” I declared. “This is awesome.”
“You know what would make this day even more awesome?” said Dave with a hint of sarcasm. “Penguins.”
I couldn’t agree more. To pass the time, we took pictures of the obese sea lions on the beach. We checked out the penguin viewing shack on the cliff. We got chased by a baby seal. Soon we were almost at the end of the beach. Maybe that penguin-hating guy was right. Maybe we’d never see the elusive hoiho.
Suddenly, I spotted something on the orange rocks of the cliff. It was black and white and fuzzy-looking. Could it be? We raced to find out.
Sure enough, it was a hoiho. He’d just come in from the sea and was chilling on the cliff, minding his own business, looking totally groovy. We watched as another penguin came in from the sea. Then another. They all stood in a line, stretching out their wings to release extra heat and cool off their bodies. One penguin casually took a poo. They didn’t seem to mind as we gawked at them in sheer joy and ecstasy.
Weeks later, some other flatmates, Jimmy and Scott, and I visited Sandfly Bay again. Alas, there were heaps of snoozing sea lions, but no penguins to be seen. I’d promised them birds, but it didn’t look promising. We were about to head back to the car when Jimmy spotted two silhouetted figures on the rocks. Indeed, it was two hoiho.
Several weeks after that, I went on a kayaking excursion to Milford Sound with some pals. The guide led us over to the aptly named “Penguin Tree” and once again, two Fiordland penguins were chilling underneath the tree. They were sitting on the rocks, doing their thing. Sweet as, I thought in Kiwi slang. Our guide kindly informed us that they may or may not have been engaging in a mating ritual. Awesome.
Somehow, whenever I go searching for penguins, they always show up. Maybe I’ve just been incredibly lucky. Maybe it was divine providence. Or maybe, deep down inside their fuzzy little penguin hearts, they sensed that I’m one of their biggest fans. I’ll chalk it up to that.
Read more stories from study abroad students in our Spring 2010 series, Blogs from Abroad, including Edwin’s other posts.
Edwin Ouellette is a senior majoring in Magazine Journalism and Political Science at the University of Oregon. Due to his love of kiwi culture (including Flight of the Conchords, of course) he chose to study abroad as a scarfie at the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand. When not pouring over ancient manuscripts and homework, some of his hobbies include boxing, badminton, writing, guitar-playing, and cartooning. After graduation he plans to become an online journalist, a cartoonist, an author, a penguin expert, and a world traveler. To read more about his adventures, which are mostly epic, visit his blog.
