Seals!

On Saturday, Aug 20, we had beautiful weather, so decided to go exploring, and to see if I could really drive on the wrong (left) side of the road. We drove east to Lower Hutt (Maybe named after Mr. Hutt?), then into a secluded valley town called Wainumata. From there we drove to land's end going south. At the end of the road we walked about an hour to a rocky area where there is sometimes a colony of seals. The first person we asked said that there were no seals, but we kept walking. The second person, who had been diving for Abalone, said that he had seen several.

The road ended at a sheep station (a ranch that raises sheep), at the Orongorogno River's end. Looking upstream (with the tourists) and downstream into the ocean.

This is the rocky outcropping that we hiked to. Note the seasoned stalker headed down to the unsuspecting seals.

Closing in to the unsuspecting beach crowd.

This last guy decided I was a bit close, but I held still and got the following video of him.

Last shots before we left.

We were so excited to see them. So, to reward ourselves, we stopped to get our first real fish and chips. That was stressful-they had too many choices-just couldn't walk up and say "1 order of fish & chips". Three kinds of breading on the fish, two kinds of fish, even grilled fish. Then regular chips (fries), or wedgie fries, or kumara fries (sweet potato). Lois isn't much of a fish eater, so ordered Spring Rolls, just in case the fish was too "fishy". But we both loved it. It is on our list to return to.