Yesterday whales, today fur seals

Not only is Kaikoura known as the best place to whale watch in New Zealand, it is also famous here for it's abundance of fur seals. When we visited the information centre the lady gave us a map that showed us a route we could walk out on the peninsula along the cliffs. She said although it's not mentioned on the map you can walk down the steps to see the fur seals and then follow the shore line back to the carpark along the rocks. We had our last 7 minute showers at the campsite and dumped and filled up the van before driving the road out to the end of the peninsula where there is a small carpark at the end of the road. On the boardwalk here lay two seals basking in the morning sun. Although we've seen seals on our travels before we've never been this close to them before and it was hard to keep the recommended distance away from them when they were in the carpark itself. You can see how easy it is for people to be disrespectful to these animals and get much too close if they wanted to. The view back towards the main town was beautiful with the mountains in the background and deep blue waters inbetween. As we began to walk up the hill the view only got better and it wasn't long before we were up on the cliffs walking along the edge of the peninsula. We could see seals down below us as well as hear their calls to one another. In places the rocks and cliffs were so white in colour and it reminded me of the white cliffs of Dover and how not unique they probably are. The weather was really on our side so this made the walk even more pleasant. We made it to the area where you head down the steps to the rocks below and saw so many seals lounging in the sun and young pups playing in the rockpools learning to swim. It was so cool to just stand back and observe these animals going about their daily lives and not disturb them at all. We walked along the rocks and meandered our way back to the carpark taking in the beautiful scenery, impressive white jaggered rocks and adorable seals. Back in the van we stopped in town to grab some chai flavoured ice cream which was amazing and fish and chips to share. When you're in a seaside town you have to have fish and chips. It then came the time to leave the beautiful Kaikoura behind us which was a sad moment indeed. We drove inland to Hanmer Springs, a town known for its hot pools. When we realised how busy the thermal pools were we decided to hold off visiting until the next day hoping it will be quieter in the morning and instead went to camp at the Top 10 site. The site actually offer private log fire heated hot tubs with complimentary towels and water. We decided this was a far nicer idea then sharing a huge pool full of tourists so we had a rather romantic soak in the pool as the sun began to set. When we fully resembled prunes we headed out to have showers before making some dinner. The hot tub was a lovely way to end one of our last nights spent in the van.Read more