Ferry and Fur Seals

**extra long post**
Thursday, 29 April 2010

I got up a little earlier today because I had to catch the 8:30 Interislander Ferry to Picton. Taking a car, I had to get there 1 hour ahead of time. I like that Apex rental paid for the ferry crossing because that would have cost around $165 NZD otherwise.

I was downstairs to check out around 7am but the proprietor wasn’t anywhere to be seen. Though, it only took him a short time to come down and despite my nervousness, I was out of there by 7:10. He gave me directions to the Ferry, which I repeated back to him twice to make sure I had it down pat. Turns out he was spot on and it was very simple to get there, which I was pleased about.

Oh, with yesterday’s entry, I forgot to mention something about Wellington, which I will go head and mention now. I read somewhere on a forum post that you should wear black to fit in around Wellington. Well, they weren’t lying. Everyone wears black or gray and occasionally white. The only colour I saw on people was in the accessories and that was seldom… like a red hat or a purple scarf. The other thing about the people there is that hardly anyone uses the crosswalks and they are apt to just walk out in the middle of the street, regardless of whether or not your car is driving down the road. That put me on edge a little when I was getting lost because I don’t like seeing people step out in front of my car or stand in the middle of the road waiting for me to pass. Makes me nervous. This wasn’t just every now and then that people did this; it was like almost every road I turned onto when I was downtown. I guess there are no laws against jaywalking?

Anyway, back to the ferry. I boarded the ferry with my car with absolutely no fuss. Parked it and then grabbed everything I might want for the 3 hour trip. I lugged my bag with me to the deck 10 and took some pictures. After awhile, I went back inside because it was really windy and read in a chair for awhile until we started to move. Then I went back out to the sundeck and took lots more pictures of the passing landscape. From out on the water, Wellington looked much prettier. This was probably because it was a partly sunny morning with beautiful rays of sunlight shimmering on the water through dappled clouds.

After I had enough of the wind, I went down to the food court and got myself some breakfast. Though, I couldn’t eat much of it. It really wasn’t very appetizing. The scrambled eggs (not that I really like them to begin with) were the powdered kind and rather slimy. I ate what I could while I read but started to become very sleepy. So, even though I had planned to type out yesterday’s blog entry, I sat myself down on a reclining chair and took a nap until we got to Picton. I’m quite sure I missed some great photo opportunities, as we pass a lot of islands and mountains at the top of the South Island after we crossed the Cook Strait. I was just too tired.

When we got there, I snapped a few shots of Picton and then went back down to deck 2 to get into my car. Disembarking was just as quick and simple as getting onboard and off I was headed toward Kaikoura. I was on the South Island! Part two of my trip begins.

Right outside of Picton, the landscape was still very green. I regret not being able to stop to take a picture of this one hill covered in the dark green shrub all abloom with yellow flowers. So basically, it looked like a bright yellow hill with dark green undertones. Quite remarkable. Speaking of flowers, I forgot to mention the deep blue-purple (I think that’s considered Indigo but I can’t get online to check) morning glories that just bedecked the roadside on the way down to Wellington. Wonderous!

The hills quickly changed the vegetation to dark yellow grass with only the occasional shrubs scattered about. A little ways down, this was punctuated with bright yellow-green vineyards alongside the road. Again, I only got a few shots but I wish I could have gotten more. Though, my desire to take pictures eventually lessened as I preferred to just drive and keep to my thoughts. Sometimes the best thinking can be done in the car and constantly hopping on and out of the car and be disruptive. Therefore, I didn’t take too many pictures until the road began to hug the coast of rocky beaches. Plus, there was a seal colony that lived on one of them and there was a perfect place to pull off and admire them. That was fantastic! I’ve never seen seals in the wild before and was delighted. They just lazed about, looking like they could have been dead except for the occasional scootch around or flipper repositioning. The pups, on the other hand, were quite active. They ever had their own little tide pool on top of a rock as a little nursery swimming area.

Kaikoura came up quickly afterwards and I was in town a little after 2pm. I decided to stay at a hostel called the Lazy Shag (Shag being the name of a local shore bird) because it had en suite bathrooms. This, I’ve decided, is something I prefer at my age. Though, as I said, the internet situation sucks here. It isn’t the same as the other hostels and though I complained when I first had to deal with that, I prefer it over whatever is going on here.

Anyway, when I signed in at the hostel, I asked about the seal swim, expecting it to happen at some point in the morning. Well, silly me. It was leaving in 10 mins and the next one wouldn’t be until 4pm tomorrow. So, my only chance was to do it then. I made the snap decision to do it, even though I hadn’t really had much of a lunch. So, I threw my stuff in my room, ransacked my bags for my bathing gear and hopped into the van at the last minute. I guess I picked the right hostel to stay at because apparently it leaves from here. What luck.

We were taken to another location to be fitted into wet suits, flippers, snorkels and Teva type shoes for clambering over the rocks. That took awhile to get everyone situated. I’ve never worn a wet suit before and man, it’s hard to get on and zip up. We were driven to the end of Kaikoura and had to walk about 20+ mins along the rocks, not stones.. rocks, on the beach to get to another seal colony. It wasn’t exactly an easy walk since maneuvering in wet suits greatly reduces your agility and the sandals I was wearing didn’t fit all that well and as soon as my feet got wet, they were slipping all over the place. Plus, I was carrying the flippers and the mask with the snorkel.

We finally all got to the destination, remarkably unscathed, despite all the icky flies along the way. The seals were frolicking in the water, so looked like we were in the right place! We zipped up the rest of our wet suit zippers, pulled up the hood, wedged on the flippers and mask… and off we went. (Oh, I should mention this for future reference while I remember. I found out today that toothpaste works far better smeared all over the inside of your mask than spit does to keep the inside from fogging up. Well, you smear and then wash it out with sea water. Worked like a charm!

Okay, back to about getting into the water. I failed to mention that walking along the rocks, we did get wet and the water was cold. Freezing would be a far better term. Now, when it’s just your feet, you get acclimated pretty quick but when it’s your whole body… oh.. if it wasn’t for those seals, I would have walked back out and said.. “No, thanks!!” However, I grit my teeth and sank into the water, quickly freezing my hands and my feet. The wet suit does a fairly good job of warming up the water around your body, but it’s not perfect and every time you go from a horizontal position to a vertical one, it lets in fresh, cold water. Lovely. Though, to be honest, I didn’t have too many problems after awhile, with the exception of my hands. They remained completely numb and likely had a reduced blood flow from the tightness of the wet suit. Ugh.

Oh, I should mention we saw a sting ray right along the water’s edge before we all walked in. Shame it didn’t stick around so we could swim with it. No, there is no danger around sting rays anymore than there are with bumble bees. They aren’t going to hurt you unless you seriously bother with them. Anyway, back to seals…
The seals had moved at this point so we had a fair bit of swimming to do until we got to where they were porpoising. The guide had an inner tube with him but everyone grabbed onto the tube so they could be towed along. In fact, two of the girls (there were 8 people including myself and the guide) were poor swimmers. Why do people go snorkeling if you can’t swim or can’t swim well? I did not join in on the towing as I preferred to swim without getting jabbed by elbows or knocked in the face by stray flippers. Overall though, with the small group, it was a great experience because there was enough room for everyone.

On the way to the seals, there were kelp beds, loads of different kinds of fish, sea urchins and those dark purple starfish that have like twice as many arms than a normal starfish. I’ve never snorkeled in waters like these, so there was plenty to see. Then all of a sudden from the depths of the kelp beds, a seal shoots up just in front of me, glances at me and zips away. She kind of startled me because she got so close. I didn’t see any more until we go closer to the outcropping of rocks where they were resting and swimming.

I had an absolutely wonderful time since I stayed away from the group as much as possible. The water was pretty shallow here and with the jagged rocks and the surf pounding on the rocks of the shore, we had to maneuver carefully. If you kept nice and still (as still as you could) and didn’t splash around with your flippers, the seals would come up really close to investigate you. They were extremely curious and would basically follow you just out of arm’s length. The best part was when they were right in front of you, with their back flippers lolling about above the water. Under the water, their head would roll back and forth as they watched you, so it almost looked like they were upside down. I’ve have to draw it to really explain it. However, they really watched us and I was surprised at how large their eyes were. I guess when they are on land they don’t open their eyes very large, but under the water they are larger than golf balls (really can’t think of another comparison)… all black and shiny.

I have no idea how long we were out there but soon enough, our guide told us we better get back because the sun was going down and sure enough it was. I was kind of ready to stop being cold, too. It took awhile to swim back to shore and it wasn’t until I got out of the water did I realize how stiff my body was with cold. I did not relish that walk back across all those rocks in slippery shoes. My hands and feet were painfully numb, so walking was going to be a challenge and it certainly was. I was kind of surprised that no one scraped, broke, bruised or twisted anything because I’m not exaggerating this time. It wasn’t easy. At least I walked with two girls and I got a few hand-ups from them.

The sunset on the way back was positively and fantastically breathtaking. I so wished I had my camera with me because I’m not sure I’ve seen anything like it before. The sun set behind us but over the ocean, along the horizon, there was what guide called a “sun burst”. I’ll have to look that up but if I can explain it correctly, it’s exactly that. From a central point, there were multiple rays, yet there was no sun. The rays were simply a brighter colour than the blues and pinks of the evening sky. Where the sun was setting to the west, the clouds caught on fire with brilliant yellows and velvety oranges. They looked like they were painted in the sky by Monet or maybe Van Gogh.

After I got back to my room, I took a really long hot shower to try and warm up. It took a very long time to get full feeling back in my feet. Afterwards, I bundled up, even though it wasn’t that cold outside, and went for some pizza down the street at the Black Rabbit Pizza Company. Couldn’t pass that up since it reminded me of Watership Down. I’m keeping the menu as a souvenir because I kid you not, that was some of the most fantastic pizza I’ve ever tasted. In fact, I’m going to go there for lunch before I leave so I can try another one. Tonight’s was called “Hens are Nuts”. It had spiced fruit chutney, roasted chicken, cream cheese, pistachio and capsicum (which I’ve now realized is green peppers). What a fantastic combo! I almost ordered another one. Cream cheese is one of the best things ever on a pizza.

As for now, I need to get to bed. I’m going to let myself sleep in tomorrow since I’ve already done what I came here to do. I’ll do some picture taking and probably head down to Christchurch around 1:30- 2pm.