Pen-y-bryn Lodge

07/10/2026

Oamaru is basking in the limelight of its starring role in Netflix’s hit, East of Eden. Here you can take a look behind the scenes of how they turned 21st century Oamaru into turn-of-the-last-century Salinas, CA.

01/10/2026

Oamaru is about to hit the airwaves as Netflix’s East of Eden premieres tomorrow!

Ōamaru has a little bit of everything. Victorian streets, steampunk surprises and the chance to spot kororā (little blue penguins) along the way. ⚙️🐧

You may even catch Ōamaru in Netflix’s East of Eden just recently released. 👀

The best wildlife encounters happen when they can behave naturally, so give them a little room to roam.

📍Ōamaru, Waitaki
📍Steampunk HQ, Waitaki
📍Ōamaru Penguins, Waitaki


👉👈

23/09/2026

Want to know what you might be able to see through our 10" telescope during your stay with us? We have created a tool that lets you plug in the date and time of your stay and comes up with a list of 10 or so targets that will be visible from the Pen-y-bryn patio. You can give it a play and see what you'd like to see when you come stay with us at the link below.

Discover what's in the southern sky on the night you stay at Pen-y-bryn Lodge, Oamaru — galaxies, nebulae and star clusters invisible from the northern hemisphere.

23/09/2026

Lonely Planet has published its top 50 destinations for 2027 and we're thrilled to see that Waitaki has made the list (together with nearby Dunedin)! You can read what they have to say about the area at the link below, and from there you can explore the other 49 top picks.

Plan your long weekend exploring in and around the South Island towns of Dunedin and Ōamaru with this itinerary.

28/08/2026

Today is the day when the second batch of our private-label wh**ky from The New Zealand Wh**ky Collection is ready to be bottled after nearly four years in the barrel. We filled the barrel with new spirit on 23 November 2022 and now, 45 months later, it's ready! We opted to bottle it at 48% ABV (similar to the first batch, which we bottled at 47.5%). We think you're going to love it!

19/08/2026

Here's a little preview of the upcoming Netflix East of Eden series, filmed in and around Oamaru last summer and coming to your screens from 1 October.

19/08/2026

Early in 2025 the central area of Oamaru was turned into Salinas, California, circa 1920s for Netflix's production of their mini-series based on Steinbeck's East of Eden. Today they announced the long-awaited release date of the series, which Netflix subscribers will be able to watch starting on 1 October. I know we'll be watching--hope you will, too!

Here’s your first look at Pugh, Christopher Abbott, and Mike Faist in the new series, adapted by Zoe Kazan.

18/08/2026

Spring settles gently over Ōamaru — the gardens come into blossom, the days stretch longer and warmer, and the Waitaki shakes off the winter chill. There's no more graceful place to take it in than Pen-y-bryn Lodge, the largest wooden single-storey dwelling in Australasia and a grand Victorian home in every detail.

Wander the heritage precinct, watch the little blue penguins come ashore at dusk, trace the Waitaki Valley's wineries and the Moeraki Boulders — then return to a fireside dram and perhaps a private fine-dining dinner by candlelight.

Spring stays are 15% off when you book direct with us (September–November). Send us a message, or book your escape here: bit.ly/pybspring2026

22/07/2026

Each image is about two hours of exposure through my imaging telescope — and while that one stays busy with the camera attached, guests are welcome to something even better for looking: on clear nights we set up our 10-inch Dobsonian, which gathers half again as much light and turns these clusters into swarms of stars you can see with your own eye. The southern sky is one of the Waitaki's quiet treasures — on a moonless night here, you can see the Milky Way from horizon to horizon.Midwinter is prime season for stargazing here in Oamaru — the nights are long and properly dark — and this past week of clear skies let me point the telescope at four of my favourite star clusters. All were captured over the last few nights, right here in the Waitaki's dark skies.

The big misty ball is Omega Centauri, the largest star cluster in the entire sky: around ten million stars, and it passes almost directly overhead here. Astronomers believe it's actually the surviving heart of a small galaxy our Milky Way swallowed long ago. The two golden swarms are M22 and M4 — M4 is the closest cluster of its kind to Earth, and is home to a planet nearly 13 billion years old, one of the oldest known. And the sparkly one is the Jewel Box, a young cluster in the Southern Cross — blue-white diamonds with a single ruby-orange star set in the middle.

17/07/2026

Kaitiakitanga — the world's most beautiful word 🌿

We were delighted to learn that te reo Māori has just received wonderful international recognition: an international jury of linguists, writers and cultural experts, convened by language-learning app Babbel, has named Kaitiakitanga the most beautiful word in the world — chosen from over 220 words across 75 languages.
Kaitiakitanga speaks of guardianship: the responsibility to care for and protect the natural world, not for ourselves, but for the generations who follow.
It's a concept close to our hearts here at Pen-y-bryn Lodge. From tending our heritage gardens and century-old trees, to supporting the protection of the little blue penguins that call Oamaru home, we try to be good kaitiaki of this special corner of Aotearoa — caring for a place that was here long before us, and will remain long after.
Ka mau te wehi — how fitting that of all the world's words, this is the one. 💙

A Māori word describing the responsibility to care for the natural world has been named the world's most beautiful word by language-learning platform Babbel.