From Wanaka we drove for 2 hours and arrived at Omarama. The reason we are here today is for a gliding session for Mary. She had always wanted to do this when we were studying as a student when we were at Brisbane. Then, we were poorer, and did not have the opportunity to do this.

It get a bit nervous when the instructor asked Mary to wear a parachute. He assured her that the parachute was never used all his life, but it is a precaution that is needed.

After a short set up, the glider was towed up in the sky, by a tow plane towards the horizon, behind the mountains.

Me and Jay waited on the ground, while Mummy is soaring in the sky.

After Mary landed, we were so relived that she don’t have to used the parachute。 😬

We did a victory walk towards the base and we were on our way to our next stop – Clay Cliff.

The Clay Cliffs are a stark sight – tall pinnacles separated by narrow ravines. These otherworldly formations are made up of layers of gravel and silt, originally formed by the flow from ancient glaciers over a million years ago.

We had our lunch in our campervan before talking a short trail through the ravines.

We had a short coffee break at Omarama, before heading to Oamaru.

The trip up to Oamaru was a last minute decision as there has been a request to see if we could go and catch a sight of the blue Penguins.

Driving to Oamaru from Omarama, took us around 2 hours. Along the way, we stop at Vanished World at Duntroon. Thousands of years ago this whole area was under the sea. Whales and other marine life sank into the soft sand which then gradually rose to the surface. The result is an intriguing area of fossils and dramatic limestone outcrops. Vanished World visitor centre in Duntroon houses interpretive displays on the area’s geological past.

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There is an activity room where we could we could dig fossils and whatever we find we could bring them home. The activity was pretty addictive, so much so that we actually bought a fossil rock home to do more digging.

Reluctantly, we left the place, and we reached Oamaru Camper-van park within 1/2 hour of drive. While I prepared dinner, mummy and Jaydon went to the nearby park for a play.

We had a quick dinner and we took a 10 minutes along the Bay from the campervan park towards The Oamaru Blue Penguin Colony Center.

The centre provides visitors with an opportunity to see little penguins in their natural environment.

In the evening, visitors are captivated by watching the nightly arrival of penguins from their days’ fishing at sea. As the Penguin is staying in a wild habitat, we need to wait patiently for them to return from their hunt. We are all seated on a platform where we are not allowed to take any photos and make any noise.

At around 8pm, we started to get excited as we witness a total of 200+ Blue Penguins coming back to shore.

After spending an hour, we decided to head back to the Campervan park.

The walk back to Campervan park, we were greeted with pockets of Penguins walking across road.

We are unable to resist to take some pictures while being careful in giving the Penguins their space.

In our Campervan park, we could also hear Penguins chipping nearby.

The night, we slept in our Campervan listening to the chipping of the penguins, which after sometime, it get a bit irritating.