New seal-land

Fyffe House, old whalers cottage in Kaikoura

Kaikoura Peninsula track

seals on the rocks...

...all pretty relaxed

The cliff we climbed up

Jordan stream bridge in the Puhi Puhi Valley

 

Beside the seals at Paparoa Point

 

A seal posing

We are back on the east coast - home to seals!  Yesterday we walked around some more of Kaikoura Peninsula - coming  from the town side.  We decided to walk back along the beach, which we did till we got to the point where the tide was too far in at a headland.  The choice was between waiting for the tide to go out, walk all the way back the way we came and up the steps or climbing up the nearby cliff.  We took the cliff, don't ask me why, but we lived to tell the tale.

This morning we took the car into the hills, up Puhi Puhi Rd, because Malcolm used to have a farm at Puhi Puhi (the one near Whangarei).  We drove to the end of the road where there was an old bridge that wouldn't take the weight of a car, so drove through the river.  Then came back. 

After that we took the bus and moved to Paparoa Point which is north of Kaikoura on the road to Blenheim.  The rocky shoreline is home to a seal colony and we watched the seals cavorting in the waves and posing on the rocks.  The sound of the surf rolling rocks on the beach was so hypnotising we couldn't do anything except sit and watch the world go by all afternoon.  It's a hard life but someone has to do it!