Yellow- Eyed Penguins
In addition to providing a habitat for the small Blue Penguin, the conservation corps in Oamaru have set aside Bushy Beach

source
 as a reserve for the Yellow-Eyed Penguin.  These penguins are far less common than the Blue Penguins. 
The Yellow-Eyed Penguins' Reserve is open to the general public.  At the reserve, there is a walkway high on the bluff over the beach, where you can see the penguins come up from the ocean and onto the beach.  The Yellow-Eyed Penguins come in earlier than the Blue Penguins, before dusk.   Here's the one penguin coming up the beach.  Generally they come out of the ocean, hang out on the foreshore for a few minutes, then back in the water for a minute, then to  the beach, and up the fairly steep bluff above the beach.  These penguins have quite well-developed claws on their feet, so they are pretty quick climbers through the rocks and bush. 

 
The admission ticket for the Blue Eyed Penguins Reserve includes a guided tour of the Yellow-Eyed Penguin Reserve.  I thought the tour would entail seeing the penguins from a distance of 100-200 metres, like the above photo.
 
More like 1-2 metres.  No telephoto lens needed here;  the guide pulled back the shrubbery and there they were.
 

 
 
 

"Get your ass in there and take out the garbage!"

 
 

"Where's dinner? You were out there all day & didn't bring back any food?"
.

 
(On the flight back to the States, one of the entertainment options was a documentary that featured the guide and the work he has done to save the penguins.)

The Yellow-eyed Penguin Trust is doing good work, and needs your support:

They have a sound file of the penguins here. I also put it here on my server. (the other link might rot)
DOC page on penguins in Canterbury:

Immense thanks to Peter R. for sharing these images with me.  My camera decided to die (again) just that afternoon, so I had no way capturing the images from this once-in-a-lifetime event.