Southward Seals

This Saturday, Sam & I drove from Nelson to Kaiapoi, outside of Christchurch.  It was the longest leg of our road trip so far, taking over 6 hours including stops. The scenery was nice through the Marlborough region, and along the scenic coastal drive. Our favorite part, however, was outside of Kaikoura.

Looking down at the rocks along the water, I thought I saw a seal. Upon closer inspection, I decided it was probably just a piece of driftwood. A minute later, however, I spotted what was definitely a herd of seals. I made Sam hastily pull over for a closer look.  I've only ever seen them in the wild from a boat in the highlands of Scotland.  I've never been able to walk up to them before.

We climbed down the short cliff to get closer to them. A couple of times we got too close and they bared their teeth, causing me to squeal and run away. Not that I was being chased; the seals were too lazy for pursuit.

The highlight was discovering the baby seals, clustered in a small group with some females.

Baby seal nursing

The Christchurch region is also supposed to be a great place for whale watching and swimming with dolphins, and even spotting penguins, of which New Zealand has 6 species. I'm going to keep our zoom lens handy and hopefully we'll see some more wildlife.