Pōhatu Penguins/plunge

25/04/2025

Happy World Penguin Day! 🐧🌍

Today, we celebrate all penguins, but we want to give a special shout-out to our beloved Kororā (Little Penguins) – the smallest and one of the most endearing penguin species in the world. 💙

At Pōhatu, we’re dedicated to protecting and conserving these incredible birds and their natural habitat. Through ongoing efforts like nest monitoring, predator control, and rehabilitation, we work hard to ensure a bright future for the Kororā.

Thank you to our team, partners, and supporters who help us in this mission. Let’s keep working together to protect these amazing creatures for generations to come. 💙

23/04/2025

Looking to escape to one of the most scenic locations in New Zealand? Our Winter Package offers the perfect balance of relaxation and adventure for couples:

❤️ 2-Night Stay at Akaroa Waterfront Motels – enjoy comfort by the harbour with a late check-out at 11am.
🐧 Pōhatu Penguins Evening Tour – witness the beauty of our little penguins in the wild.
🌟 Akaroa Stargazing tour – gaze at the stars under the guidance of an expert.

Packages start from $649 per couple, available for stays from June 4th – August 31st, 2025 (excluding Matariki weekend). Book your unforgettable Akaroa getaway today!

Special accommodation offers available from Akaroa Waterfront Motels.

22/04/2025

Check out a few pics from our recent adventure on the Pōhatu School Holiday Programme...

We had a lot of fun building a new style of nest box for our penguins, and of course decorating them. The group ran around the hills, enjoyed wildlife watching, and learned about our special penguins.

The kids are getting way too good at our Pōhatu quiz now, they know almost more than we do!

20/04/2025

Our Wildlife Nature Safaris offer stunning views of Akaroa Harbour, the outer coast, farm lands and picturesque hillsides covered in Native forest.

Once at Pōhatu, you will be greeted by the farm’s rare breeds of friendly pet sheep. You will then head for a conservation walk to explore the bay and the incredible wildlife that call Pōhatu home.

We have 2 tour options available: a 2-hour Nature tour and our Half day Scenic Nature safari. Find out more at www.pohatu.co.nz/Tours 💙

18/04/2025

We had a relatively calm season in our rehab facility in comparison to what we have experienced in previous years.

Over the whole season, we had a total of 17 chicks in care. 11 were found in our monitored area, underweight. The 6 other chicks were found in non-monitored areas, sometimes in unusual places (out of a nest), and underweight.

We also rescued 5 adult penguins for various reasons, including two penguins found on the water with unexplained head trauma, and Tress who was found in a poor condition on the beach, struggling to finish her moult.

Once mature or recovered, all the penguins who spent time in a rehab facility return to Pōhatu bay in the Soft Release area.

16/04/2025

Pōhatu’s conservation efforts are only possible thanks to our incredible partners and supporters.

Join us as a corporate sponsor and make a lasting impact in protecting the Kororā White-flippered Penguin and supporting biodiversity. We offer tailored opportunities for your business to get involved:

✨ Adopt a Penguin Neighbourhood – $1,500�: Name a penguin nesting area and receive recognition on-site and online.
✨ Named Exclusive Partner�: Provide in-kind support and get recognition across our platforms.
✨ Major Support Partner: �Fund key conservation projects and be recognised as a leading supporter of penguin protection.

Your support ensures a sustainable future for penguins and their habitats. Learn more about our sponsorship opportunities at www.pohatu.co.nz.

15/04/2025

❄ Enjoy a romantic escape to Akaroa and the bays with our Winter Package! ❄

In collaboration with Akaroa Waterfront Motels and Akaroa Stargazing, this package has been designed for couples who want to relax and explore the beauty of the bays this winter.

The package includes:
🌊 A 2-Night Stay at Akaroa Waterfront Motels – cosy up by the water with late check-out at 11am.
🐧 An unforgettable Pōhatu Penguins Evening Tour – visit Pōhatu bay and observe our little penguins in their natural habitat.
🌠 An incredible Akaroa Stargazing tour – explore the stars with expert guides.

Available for stays from June 4th – August 31st, 2025 (excluding Matariki weekend). Starting from $649 per couple. Book your stay here - https://tinyurl.com/m2vwtrbd - and make memories that will last a lifetime!

13/04/2025

Our sheep of the month is Staggers - a name he was given when he came down with serious grass staggers caused by mould on the grass.

His actual name is Ted, because without their horns this breed really do look like adorable teddy bears. Because we have so many guests that really want to pet the sheep we have decided to try breeding polled Valais Blacknose sheep without jabby horns.

Of course these will never be purebreds, but if we can breed some cute cuddly lookalikes, we think that would be awesome. Ted is our first polled ram and is a very well marked F3. We do have an F4 boy lined up arriving soon.

We think Ted is awfully cute without those monstrous horns. The horned one beside Ted is Cindy our bottle baby girl from last year. Because Cindy is so well marked and has such a great fleece we are going to back breed her hopefully to polled offspring. And yes she likes to stand on rails too!

Next year Ted will have some very nice perfectly marked polled F3 girls to court. This year he has just the 4 girlfriends, two F2’s and 2 F3’s.

12/04/2025

Back in February, the NYC Association of Zoo Keepers held a fundraising event, "Pints for Penguins", to raise funds for our Helps Pōhatu Conservation Trust.

All proceeds from the bar tabs, penguin merchandise, and the penguin art auction, totalling $700USD, were generously donated to us here in Pōhatu. These funds will go a long way to supporting our conservation work and our colony of Kororā Little Penguins.

Samantha Gaeta a board member of the NYC AAZK chapter spear headed the event and is also the current Little Penguin Programme leader for the AZA populations.
Every year the AAZK chapter hosts Pints for Penguins and chooses a different species of penguins to donate to. 2025 was the Year for Little Penguins and we are so grateful they chose to support our Helps Pōhatu Conservation Trust.

11/04/2025

Our penguins may be out to sea, but our nature tour guests are spotting plenty of fur seals and sea lions around Pōhatu! 🦭

11/04/2025

Winter is coming to Canterbury and we're excited for "Snowy Heights to Starry Nights"!

There's plenty of fun to have around Canterbury - especially here in Akaroa and the bays - this winter. ⛄️

ChristchurchNZ has launched its "snowy heights to starry nights" campaign to boost winter tourism.

08/04/2025

We couldn't decide who deserved to be sheep of the season this past Summer, as our Valais Blacknose - with their friendly and mischievous nature - all stood out.

🐑 So we declared the Valais' little gang, sheep of the season! 🐑

Not sure why our Valais Blacknose sheep like hanging near our vans so much... maybe they are hoping for a ride to town? 🤣

07/04/2025

Season Recap: The latest chick in the colony fledged pretty late in mid-February!

Still being fed by his very committed parents, right through the moult season, this chick fledged in a very good condition. 💙

06/04/2025

Game on! Aotearoa New Zealand has arrived in Minecraft.

To celebrate the release of A Minecraft Movie, Aotearoa New Zealand has partnered with Warner Bros’ and Mojang Studios to create a world-first destination DLC (downloadable content) for Minecraft.

But why simply play digitally when you can come play for real in New Zealand? Press play right here in Pōhatu bay! Our playground is ready and waiting – why not check out www.pohatu.co.nz to find out how you can come play for real?

02/04/2025

We have some super creative locals here in Akaroa and if you're looking for a beautiful handmade gift we have you sorted!

Our Pōhatu retail store is located at 8 Rue Balguerie and is full of locally made arts and crafts, including the addition of some lovely pottery. 💙

30/03/2025

This 2025 season, 250 birds were microchipped : 55 adults + 195 chicks. Which makes a total - since September 2022 - of 767 penguins microchipped in the Pōhatu colony.

The research team deployed 30 GPS devices on adult penguins this season, 26 of them provided data: 6 penguins during pre-breeding, 6 during incubation, 10 during guard stage, 4 during post-guard stage. See maps below.

We saw the same tendencies as last year, with long foraging trips down the East coast during incubation and closer trips once the chicks have hatched.

28/03/2025

Moody days here in the bays!

27/03/2025

This past season, we were pleased to see so many well fed chicks during our monitoring rounds. 🐧

Most of the chicks we weighed as part of the research program were over 1 kg at fledging age. One single chick even broke a record, weighing 1.4 kg at only 5 weeks old!

Seasons 2023-24 and 2024-25 were quite similar, at respectively 80% and 84% of breeding success. However, the chicks were in average significantly heavier (= healthier) this season. 💙