Advertisement
Published: March 13th 2009
Edit Blog Post
Mist...
The road seemed to vanish as we got closer, until we were driving in sea spray. After leaving Nicola and Russell and the grapevine-draped valley of Awatere, we travelled south again.
We had thought to go whale watching in Kaikoura on the way to our next destination, but the weather forecast was for high winds and heavy seas for that day, so we didn’t make a reservation in consideration of the girls landlubber tummies.
Notwithstanding this gloomy forecast, the sun blazed cheerfully with no hint of wind or rough surf, as we motored south towards Akaroa, on the Banks Peninsula.
The coast road at Kaikoura seems about to be pushed into the Pacific Ocean. The cliffs of the seaward Kaikoura Range thrust close to the surf, with both road and rail line running on the sea's edge at times.
We went through a couple of tunnels in the gnarled and eroded rock, while sea surf sprayed around us. On stormy days a drive along this road would be quite an adventure.
After a while, we spotted what appeared to be a massive cloud clinging to a cliff ahead of us, obscuring the road. We spent a few moments in conjecture as we approached - was it a fire? There was no smell
Seal Posing
There were a great many like this, displaying themselves on rocks below the road. of smoke. Fog? Not humid enough, surely. Mist from a hidden waterfall?
We never did actually decide and we soon were enveloped in what must have been fine spray from the waves hitting the rocks below. A short way along we spotted numerous cars parked on the seaward shoulder - “Seals!” Anthony exclaimed, and we pulled over and joined the gaping, shutter-clicking throng, camera at the ready.
The seals frolicked obligingly in tide pools formed on the rocky shore by relentless pounding surf and we got a few nice pics, enjoying thoroughly what was surely the girls’ first glimpse of wild seals, and speculating that the seals were possibly as amused by us multicolored, gawking, gabbling humans as we were at the sight of them.
What Graci loved was watching the baby seals in the small pools. It was like seal pup kindergarten. Around them were great roly-poly males and tired mother seals basking on the rocks.
Hunger urged us onward and we left the misty rocks and playful seals behind in favour of likely eateries in the seaside town of Kaikoura.
Of course, the weather here was lovely and would have afforded us a
calm and enjoyable whale watching outing! However, there were compensations - Paula spotted a large and promising paua and jade store in a concentrated bunch of tourist-orientated shops.
Anthony, however, had seen an opportunity for “fush and chups” a bit further along and hunger won out over consumerism - temporarily.
Graci and Ant opted for the super fresh fish and chips, while Paula, having provisionally denied herself paua shell jewelry, decided to try eating one of the critters instead, finely minced and deep fried. Toting lunch wrapped in fresh newsprint paper (without the ink, thank you), we drove to where we could park close by the wide swathe of sand on Kaikoura beach, and there feasted while we watched the sparkling water.
Our bench was conveniently placed facing the sea - but well attended by resident seagulls.
Graci kind-heartedly fed a chip (French fry) to one and the party was ON! We were swiftly surrounded by a flurry of squawking gulls. It was like a scene from a scene from Alfred Hitchcock’s movie, The Birds.
Forty plus very hungry gulls, both the black and red ones, were doing an aerial ballet, of sorts, completely surrounding
Feeding time
Two Americans, one bag of chips, forty hungry gulls... the humans and growing in numbers by the minute as they tried to gain access to the next outstretched piece of fried potato. They obviously had eaten here before and knew the drill plainly enough.
Few, however, ventured closer than about three feet from us, except for the very boldest which flew in to snatch proffered goodies from our outstretched fingers. One gull in particular played self appointed traffic cop, screaming at any bird that violated his territory - us - with the result that he got little food, and a lot of exercise vainly trying to keep the others away. A lesson for us all about sharing? Hmmm. Fortunately, we had plenty of food and could afford to be a bit generous with the neighbors.
Lunch over, we continued south. The alluvial Canterbury Plains stretched out in front of us. Our next destination and host’s home was at Wainui, a small settlement on the Akaroa Harbour.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.046s; Tpl: 0.01s; cc: 11; qc: 25; dbt: 0.0285s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1mb