Sleepy Seals

This sleepy little village is named as the first stop from Christchurch on all of the backpacker buses, famous for its abundance of sperm whales, fur seals, dolphins and cray fish among others. It made sense to follow suit so I booked the Intercity from Christchurch to Kaikoura and arrived at around 6 in the evening.

01Shrouded at dusk

I booked into a hostel called 'The Sleepy Whale' simply because it was right next to the bus stop. Staying there were a total of 5 other people including two Germans, two Asians and an Irish dude who turned out to be a good friend of Brian and Sarah from Albert Park.

I went to get some fish and chips and had an early night, still exhausted from the 4am start that morning.

02 Kaikoura Dawn

The next morning I woke at 5am in time to see the sun rise above the blue-tinged, snow-capped mountains to the North that were shrouded in cloud only the day before. I set out for a walk along the coast towards a fur seal colony on the peninsula, passing one of the Lonely Planet's recommended attractions on the way - a Whaler's Cottage. How fascinating. Well, I took a picture of it for good measure and then carried on to the real stars of the show.

Standing in the carpark looking across the colony I was greeted by the sight of... Rocks. Rocks of all different shades of grey, some with limpets and barnacles, and some with seaweed covering the tops. Rocks that were 10 feet long and some only 2. Needless to say I was amazed and astounded. But wait. All of a sudden a black lump flopped onto the amazing rocks and just sat there looking at me, before beginning its awkward journey towards me.

03 The amazing whaler's cottage

My disappointment drained in a matter of seconds and the hour it took me to get there was no longer wasted. The camera sprung into action as I filmed the seal waddling towards me before he stopped, about 12 feet away with his head high in the air as proud as any king.

I stood watching the seal for a while, and took a few photos of one of his buddies asleep by the roadside before making my way back to catch the bus to Nelson.

04

05 Seal

06 Sleepy Seal