Day 52 - Sunday 25 February 2024

Last night I went to bed with rain; this morning dawned mainly clear, so the timing looked great. There was a siren went off last night, so I asked what that was as I checked out; it's what they summon the local volunteer fire brigade with, and we are near the fire station so it seemed a bit loud. I had wondered whether it was something I'd needed to take notice of.

I had my weekly video chat with Mum, and then left just after 09:30 on what promised to be a fairly short day. Onto SH1, and I headed southwards towards Kaikoura where I'm staying for the next couple of nights.

Over a pass, and onto the coastal road. I had planned to stop at some salt works that promised pink lakes, and although I got a glimpse of the pink lake from a distance on the road, there were no points to get a good view. Where I could get a view of the lakes the sun's position meant that I couldn't see any pinkness.

Onwards once more, and the clouds were hanging on the hills to the right and the coast to the left, threatening rain. A stop at the Hinerongo memorial with great views both north and south along the coast.

Onwards once more, and just a few miles along the coast was the next stop, and a really unexpected highlight. A pull off and layby on the coast side of the road, and the rocks seemed to be covered in lounging seals. There was a walkway along the coast, and the seals seemed to be lounging all along and directly below me as I looked down.

In the pool protected from the main Pacific by rocks, the young cubs cavorted and played while their mothers lived the life of Riley, contentedly draped on the rocks. Many seemed to have chosen rocks that the youngsters couldn't reach, so there were the cries of the cubs trying to attract attention; they seemed in the main to be being ignored.

After about a half hour of wandering the walkway and watching the seals, I made my way into Kaikoura, and the first job was to locate where I need to check in for the whale watching I have planned early tomorrow morning. That found, I drove through Kaikoura to the Kaikoura Peninsula that I intend to explore tomorrow after the whale watching. The clouds were still low over the Kaikoura range, so I checked the forecast for tomorrow and that's looking a bit brighter, so I'm hoping for some better photos tomorrow. I've seen some pretty spectacular shots of the mountains coming down to the ocean, so hope I can get something along those lines tomorrow.

Then back along the sea front to my hotel for the next couple of nights; I checked in at 14:00 and then headed into town on foot for an explore. Being a Sunday, much was closed but as I'd parked the car up for the day I was able to have a beer (or two) and a fish and chip dinner before making the 15 minute walk back to base to catch up on the blog and vlog.

Tomorrow is, as I've said, an early start; I have an 07:15 check in for the whale watching so need to be away from here at 07:00. I am wondering why I booked this so damned early? Perhaps because it gives me a chance to do other stuff with the rest of the day?