Brian and I woke up early in order to have a little time to explore Kaikoura as we had to leave the area by 10am to make our ferry to the North Island. We drove about 10 minutes south to one of the seal colonies. We started off just enjoying the beautiful morning-crisp, cool air, bright sunshine, snow-capped mountains, majestic sea, and amazing rock formations, and then we started seeing New Zealand Fur Seals every which way we looked!
This one was snoozing right in the middle of the boardwalk!
We then hiked up to the overlook area and grassy pathways to get a better view. Standing here on the cliff top was like being on the prow of a high canoe.
This picture was taken off of one of the signs of the lookout point. It gives you an idea of just how amazing this area that we were standing was. Hundreds of thousands of years ago, this was an island. Over time, river gravels eroded from the Kaikoura Ranges and filled the shallow sea between the island and mainland. Before this peninsula was an island, it was a sea floor. Over the last 125,000 years, wave action has cut the land into platforms. The lower platforms which are the newest are approximately 1,000 years old.
We walked all along the grass path, overlooking the cliff edges.
More seals down below
What a beautiful, serene setting this was! So glad we woke up early to have a nice hike, just the 2 of us!
Off the seal swims
We went back to our hotel, packed up with everyone else, and headed toward Picton with one stop along the way-another Fur Seal colony. The seal pups were playing in the rock pool and we all enjoyed watching them-so cute! We also watched the big male seal getting a little aggressive with new seals that were trying to climb up on the rocks.
We made it to our ferry terminal on time. We turned in the rental van (only to pick up the same kind on the North Island) and got all of things checked in. Here’s the other ferry that we didn’t take, the Interislander. Ours was the Bluebridge Ferry.
The ferry was great-kid’s area, places to eat, fun kid activities, beautiful views outside, movies playing, etc.
Getting ready to leave the South Island…people, cargo, vehicles, and farm animals!
They had a great scavenger hunt set up for the kids, which helped the 3 hours trip go by quickly.
Lots of different landscapes
The Captain was great and let us come up for a look in the bridge.
We had a quick bite to eat during our trip and Hallie enjoyed the “window seats.”
Coming into Wellington
Once we had all of our belongings and our new rental van, we headed up to Mount Victoria. From here we could see the entire city of Wellington. This was also another LOTR site-the forested areas of the mountain were used to depict Hobbiton Woods, where the hobbits hid from the black riders.
We watched the sunset, then went back to our accommodation for some take away….We LOVED the food!
