Watsons Creek

Kaikoura baby seal nursery then west to Hanmer Springs & onto Greymouth, on the west coast.

Hoping for a clear morning and a spectacular sunrise shining on the mountains and it almost happened, lovely to watch the tops of the snow capped mountains get painted with a pink brush, making them blush for a few short minutes before the clouds rolled over and cut off our view.
Never mind, Michelle was gainfully employed getting info & tips from the tour guide for the American students. They were in fact on a ecology study tour not some secret missionary expedition as we had feared. Got some good sightseeing tips from Dave & then subsequently from a young couple who were conducting scuba diving courses in the area.
The best tip meant that we left the van park soon after and returned about 20km north to where we had seen some seals sunning themselves on the rocks yesterday. We were told that the baby seals spend their time up a creek, so we went to see.
Sure enough, the baby seals make their way about 300m up a small, steep, rocky creek until they arrive at a pool under a waterfall. When we saw them, there were about 20 or more seals playing in the water just like puppies, splashing, pushing each other around, fighting for toys and generally having a great time. And we got to stand alongside, less than 1 m away from them, they are not scared at all. Apparently the pups come here for a few days while the mothers are out at sea feeding, so it is like seal day care, not sure if there were any supervising adults tho.
Returned to Kaikoura and had a quick look around the fore-shore where we found more seals, this time adults and they we sunning themselves in & around the carpark of the lookout. Got some good close up photos & Sue got close enough to get barked at by a big seal who wanted to be left alone.
Thoroughly impressed we had to leave and make our way south along the coast before turning inland and began ascending the hills, which of course meant the start of the rain. After a while we left the main road and followed a narrow but well made road, with almost no traffic, luckily because most of the bridges were only 1 lane.
Came out of there onto another highway which wound its way through more very barren hills with a large river running along the bottom. Eventually this brought us to Hanmer Springs, a town built and devoted to the thermal pools which have now been enclosed and thousands of people visit & pay to soak in the "healthy" waters. As it was still raining steadily we adjourned to the 5 Stag Hotel for lunch, which of course has the heads of 5 different types of deer mounted on the wall. After getting the good oil from the locals, we decided to make the longish trek across to Greymouth, a further 210km but 3 1/2 hours + drive.
This took us on the road called Lewis Pass which would have been a magnificent view if it stopped raining even for a short while. I do not think the wipers were turned off once, the whole time. The road winds its way between the snow capped mountains which seemed to be in clusters rather than a whole range. So most of the time we were alongside at least 1 of a number of rivers and creeks, which after this rain were in full flow. Even little rivulets were creating mini waterfalls as they raced down the hillsides into the larger creeks. Most of the Pass is all native bush, trees or pine plantation and looks pretty lush rainforest region.
Finally we passed out of this steep country and into less steep & rolling hills where farming could hitrecommence. Paddocks were under water and looked like dairy cows were in danger of getting bogged, weighed down with fully laden udders.
Through some small villages and about 30km from Greymouth the sun broke through and caused the wet paddocks to be covered in a low hanging mist, almost like driving through fog. The few towns all had their wood fires going and the smoke just added to the haze.
It was just dark when we arrived in Greymouth so we drove straight to the van park we had selected, but after a quick reconnaissance of the place, from our vans, we drove out and found our way to another park a few Km down the road. It was much better so we checked in there and discovered that we are about 30m from the beach. With the wind blowing and the temp dropping we will delay a beach visit till the morning.
Had very good pasta dinner in the kitchen area, Sue & Michelle interviewed 2 British girls, 2 Taiwanese lasses & 1 French lad who were all staying here.

Weather was ok but cloudy till we went into the mountains and then it was cold & wet, all day.

Highlights
* brief but spectacular sunrise colours on the mountains,
* baby seals in their waterfall pool day care,
* big adult seals taking over the lookout carpark, softer than sleeping on cold rocks,
* amazing but wet drive over the mountains on Lewis Pass.
* comfy van park in Greymouth, right on the sea shore.Read more