Absolutely fantastic place if you love nature and animals. We were greeted by seals and did a day tour seeing the penguins up close in their nests. Every penny goes towards the wonderful work they do, building a healthy colony of penguins….. A must do

The penguins only come out of the water after sunset, but if you're lucky you can see them between September and mid-February. There are supervisors on site who are concerned about the well-being of the penguins, which is great!

We were there, it's a very nice place. We didn't see any penguins. But let's be honest, with screaming children and waiting tourists, they've probably changed continents a long time ago.

We came after sunset and saw about 8 penguins:) super nice experience!

Saw 2 penguins tonight. So close and so cute. It was between 9.15 and 10.30

Off season at the moment, but still saw one penguin - totally worth it! Came out of the ocean at 22:43. There's a person there every evening that can answer your questions. Just be sure to go after dark - you will not see any penguins in daylight!

A must see! Penguins don’t come until it’s dark but when they do they’re within 1-4 meters from the footpath. Definitely a must see if you’re in Timaru. Pretty sad that local council/police don’t care about the penguins welfare very much; boy racers up and down marine drive honking, revving engines and purposefully backfiring their engines just to scare the penguins. Calling police didn’t result in much either. Try get a number plate and car model if you can.

Saw like 10 penguins and even some babies really close. They started coming at 9:30pm, so cute! But stranger driving in their car really loud and also honked..

A must do!!! One of my highlights in NZ so far. The volunteers were amazing and the penguins are so cute? so worth it!

Must do! Lots of penguins, we arrived from 9pm onwards. Even little baby penguins waiting to be fed. The ladies volunteering to protect the penguins were just so admirable. They were lovely and it was a great moment to see them swim out the ocean. Drive slow if you’re driving down as they do loose some to the cars! Thanks volunteers!