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Published: June 16th 2007
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Caught in traffic
The highway was closed so construction workers could scale the cliff and saw off pieces. Quality entertainment, and the crew even provide free snackies! I left Picton relieved to be finished cleaning. At my departure, I had graduated from washroom duty to cleaning the kitchen! Driving out of town, I pondered whether I was becoming too nomadic; a week in one place seemed like a long time. Thankfully, the stunning vistas stopped me from brooding too much and I started to enjoy driving the winding, empty highways once again.
Fortune seemed to be smiling on me that afternoon, because I got stopped in a line-up of about fifty cars 45 minutes from my destination, Kaikoura. People were milling about outside their cars in a typical unconcerned New Zealand fashion. They informed me, without the slightest hint of annoyance, that due to construction, the road was only open for 15 minutes, every two hours. Apparently all the local people knew this, and complimented me on my unintentional good timing. After two hours of driving, I should have probably stopped anyways, and here I had an opportunity to chat to a few locals while enjoying the free snacks and coffee provided by the roadside crew. Plus, it was fascinating to watch the workers hanging from the cliffs, shearing off part of the face.
Reunion
Randomly I ran into Laura in a hostel in Kaikoura! Arriving in Kaikoura, the hostel I was planning on staying in was closed. I should learn from past experience, however, not to be concerned when this happens and just to go with it, "expecting nothing and everything". I picked another hostel because it was called The Lazy Shag and I appreciated the bad pun. (The shag is a common bird in the area). I almost didn't stay because it seemed oddly crowded, but I ran into Laura in the lounge, the girl that I'd met at the farm and then gone tramping with! It seemed fated because I was getting lonely traveling and needed someone familiar to talk to. When we had parted ways two weeks ago, I was driving Northwest to Queenstown, and she was hitchhiking Southeast. Now our paths were serendipitously crossing again! She was heading North in the morning, but we discussed our travel plans and adventures over the rest of my bottle of white wine. The unexpected encounter was definitely worth the chaos she created by her suggesting I hike to the seal colony. To say the least, stumbling upon the seals surprised me more then my meeting with Laura.
Undaunted by a
Angry seal
I backed up to a safe distance before attempting to take a picture of the seal I'd foolishly awoken. slight drizzle the next morning, I donned my slicker and headed along the beach to find some seals! I've always been attracted by pretty, shiny objects, and soon became absorbed in collecting Paua shells, which I thought would make some sweet earrings. I lost track of time watching the sand and the surf but I had only succeeded in finding five Paua pieces when I heard a low growl which sounded like a cross between a lion and a dog. I looked up and found myself staring into the mouth of a 200kg seal, and it sure didn't seem quite as cute as the ones the Discovery Channel. I don't remember seals have big sharp teeth! I didn't succeed in suppressing my scream, and it growled louder in return while drawing itself up onto its flippers. Apparently it was not too impressed that I'd disturbed its slumber. I admit to being scared by a seal; and I would have run like the gingerbread man if common sense hadn't stepped in saying that sudden movements were probably a bad idea.
I had only wanted to see some happy, playful seals, not angry ones, so I decided to cut cautiously
Minefield of seals!
All the black little blobs are sleeping seals. I have to make it past all of them, through the clearing to get to the road! back to the highway through some open bush. The seal colony is a popular place for tourists, so I knew there would be a parking lot with information near by. I always thought seals hung out solely on the rocks by the water, however, I realized shortly after my departure from the beach that this was a dangerous, ignorant misconception. Entering the bush was like stumbling into a minefield of seals! Luckily, unlike the seal on the beach, these seals were all sleeping peacefully, and seemed smaller too, more like giant leeches then small whales. So, between going back out to the beach past the giant killer seal, or sneaking through the smaller, sleeping seals, the latter seemed like a safer bet. I was quiet enough, or the seals were too lazy to move, because I managed to tiptoe around them without any disturbance. Unfortunately, that also meant I never found out whether these smaller seals were of the playful type.
Once on the highway, I found the turnoff for seal watching and located an information board in the parking lot. A few things I learned about seals that I probably should have known beforehand were:
1)
Innocent?
The sleeping seals in the bushes were suspiciously innocent. I know they were just waiting for a chance to pounce on me the minute I turned my back. Do not go closer than 20 meters to seals.
2) Male seals are big and aggressive, sometimes they bite, do not play with them. They sometimes attack.
3) Female seals are smaller, and friendlier. (The ones sleeping in the bush.)
4) Seals, like people, do not appreciate being woken up.
5) Male seals can grow up to 250kg.
6) Although it seems quite awkward, seals can actually travel fast over land using their flippers.
7) Seals sleep in the bushes because its cooler and safer then on the beach.
8) Do not touch the seals. (No kidding, as if I wanted to get my hand bitten off).
Next time I go hunting for large mammals, I think I'm going to read about them first. It's probably lucky for me that New Zealand doesn't have any large predators. The Paua shells I collected better make some pretty earrings; they almost caused my to become a seal snackie!
xoxo - next stop will probably be a bit safer...it so happens that there is a hot springs located conveniently on my drive to the mountains! Hopefully I won't be able to cook up some mischief there too!
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Kayle
non-member comment
hey erin... sounds like your still having fun!! Mom wanted to know your address and land line phone number. We managed to loose them both