A Furry Neighbour at Katiki Beach

Thursday 19 June

The Oamaru sunrise was less than expected as the clouds mopped up much of the colour - but they gave way to mainly blue skies for the morning. We packed up hastily, did a couple of “on power” chores then left 7 minutes after the 10am deadline… not bad!

Hung around town for a bit - food shopping, window shopping, buying carpet tiles to insulate a couple of cupboards, threatening to buy a resin Dilligas to take with us in Banjo, buying a hottie bottle to insulate myself! Parked up on a back street with Banjo, and we were surprised to find a stunning Roman Catholic nestling into this suburban street - topped with three cupola, fronted by 6 impressive ionic columns and flanked by two very white marble saints... wow! We went window shopping at the vintage camping supply store and I was quite happy that things have moved on from the olden days... though there were definitely items and patterns and colour schemes from my youth! Then the inevitable op shop visit while Louis got coffee at the cafe next door - delighted with my Hammill rainbow sweat for just $8 as they retail around $150!

Leaving Oamaru we went south along the costal SH1 route past the Moeraki Boulders beach and pulled in at a rest stop/freedom camp at the north end of Kātiki Beach. First in so we got top spot alongside the beach and noticed we had a furry neighbour… a young seal 🦭 hanging out above the tide line.

After lunch and a siesta we took a stroll up the empty beach, past the seal at a good distance and along to the stream at the north end and back. The clouds were heavy and dark in places but the sun had lowered to the point of sending spotlight rays beneath the inland clouds making things look magical on the beach.

Louis considered wading across the stream up near Kātiki Point, but decided our Red Bands were just too low to risk it... the oyster catchers tried wading across too to escape my twitcher attention, but they too decided it was a bit deep and flew across instead. The beach was pretty sandy but scattered with natural gemstones, weird grey rocks studded with shells, adorned with seaweed and patterned by the tide - just gorgeous!

Back to Banjo we watched the final sunset then Louis BBQed us lamb chops in the dark and we chilled as one by one, five camper vans pulled in to share our camping spot!