Visiting the Seals

Monday 20 January

We may not have seen a whale, but seal sightings are guaranteed at Kaikoura if you take the cliff walk. The path along the top of the cliffs gives birds eye views of the rocky seashore below, much of which was created by uplift during the 2014 Seddon quake, which is now home to a large seal colony and a breeding ground for red billed gulls. We had the best day for this with blue skies and sunshine, cooled by a gentle onshore breeze.

After admiring the numerous stunning views from the top of the cliffs, we took the stairs and pathway down to the white stony shore line.

The first wildlife we spotted were two beautiful and fairly rare reef herons, a pair of cormorants that looked like Mum & teenage chick and an elegant white faced heron. Then of course there were the gulls - so many of them. The main breeding colony of red billed gulls was further along towards to Kaikoura end of the walk, but there were so many gulls of many different breeds wheeling around above us and hanging out on rocks.

As we moved further back around the seashore, avoiding the still dangerously unstable cliffs, we saw so many seals. From a distance they looked like slugs draped across the pale grey uplifted seabed, but on closer inspection there were hosts of families - mainly mums and pups, but the occasional bull seal would be a wee away from the main colony and stretching and preening as if doing seal yoga sun salutations! The mums were fiercely territorial and if a random young pup accidentally slithered into her domain she would give them verbal and physical abuse and send them packing!

Louis and I have walked this coastline a couple of times before but it never ceases to thrill and impress - the white stones of the path, the elevated strata of the former seabed rocks, often thin layers like a millefeuille sticking up at odd angles, the driftwood constructions, and of course the jeopardy of the landscape with the crumbling cliffs to the rear. This was probably our sunniest and hottest walk along the cliffs & shoreline and the deep blue skies above were totally stunning!

We rewarded ourselves after our morning wander with late lunch at Simes (at Shadow’s table) which is always a Kaikoura favourite - my seafood chowder was possibly even more delicious than the one at Zephyr the previous night! Why "Shadow's Table"? because when we came down to collect the hoodlum hounds in February 2023, we stopped in here on the way up, wrangled the hounds out of the car and into the cafe (much to a couple on the deck's amusement) then I held onto both of them while Louis popped in to place our order and within seconds I was wrapped up in their leads like a maypole and Shadow was proudly standing on the garden table! By now the audience on the deck were convulsed in laughter!

After lunch Louis chilled while Caroline & I op shopped - she was way more successful than me, but I did get a bargain pair of ShineOn leggings for $4!

Treated ourselves to a free hot tub session at the campsite and a very nice asparagus quiche from New World for dinner, accompanied by the ubiquitous salad and coleslaw sides (a Banjo staple) before turning in for an early night.