Red Rocks and Seals

The coastal areas are around Wellington bordering the Cook Straight are spectacular. At the end of a scenic 20-minute drive the road deposits you at the entrance to Red Rocks Coastal Walk. From the carpark, it's a short walk (about 1 hour) around the shoreline to a New Zealand fur seal haulout area! These seals are all males, and apparently about 80 of them come to this area in between breeding seasons to congregate. We had been to this walk a couple of times before, but never allowed enough time to walk all the way out to Sinclair Head to see the seals. This time we went there specifically for it.

As you can see, they blend in quite well with their surroundings and you have to be careful when you walk among the rocks so you don't get too close to one of them! Truth be told, you know when you are near them long before you spot one. They are really smelly! The Maori name for this seal is Kekeno.

Mostly they just sit there looking lazy, like big dogs with flippers. Occasionally one would look up at us and yawn. We got a little too close to one of them and he sauntered off to get behind a rock where we could not see him or take his photo. Soon they will head back out to sea to meet up with the girls and do the mating thing. Most of the breeding areas are on the South Island, but I believe there are also a few on the North Island around the Wairarapa. The NZ Department of Conservation does quite of bit of work around marine mammals to track their populations and migratory habits.

Stacey and I packed a lunch which we ate on the rocks and watched the seals. It was a really nice day, and we kinda needed to get out of the city (well, I did at least) for a little while. It's easy to forget how close we are to this sort of beauty because we're just getting on with our day-to-day lives now. Important to remember to enjoy it. Now that we've seen the seals, the penguins are next on my agenda in terms of marine wildlife. Not sure when they start coming around, so will need to check on that...