Kaikoura

Good evening from home base, Christchurch! What an adventurous 2 weeks it has been over here in Middle Earth, New Zealand!

Last weekend Heather and Piers had the great idea of doing a day trip to Kaikoura (about 3 hours north of Christchurch), where people travel to see the seals. So last Sunday we loaded up the boys and began our journey in search of some flubbery friends.

The drive was absolutely marvelous, which seems to be the norm for everywhere I go in this country.

Our first stop was at the Seal Colony at the eastern end of Kaikoura (shown above). We pulled up, and before we even got to the beach area, we saw this guy snoozing on the boardwalk. So of course I had to go join him. He opened his eyes a couple times which kept me on my toes, but he did not seem too bothered by my presence.

Then there was this fellow....

"Don't look at me! Ok, ok, you can look at me." He was very into posing for his audience and I must say, he was quite the flirt....

Ethan thought they were big doggies and was all about charging straight at them to stroke their lack of fur. Good thing we had the nifty frog leash with us!

These ladies above were having a dispute, probably fighting over Mr. Handsome Shmamsome in the last picture (super happy they didn't see me flirting. Phwew). They would bark at each other until they got tired and then lay down to refuel. Finally decided to just sleep on it at their separate ends of the boardwalk....

Some nice scenery to fall asleep next to....

Although they look dead here, no, I did not kill them.

The sun decided to come out and the water went crystal clear. Such gorgeous weather we were fortunate to encounter.

Models everywhere!

Lounging...

Not dead.

As we were leaving the Seal Colony, we pulled onto the main road and ran into this wiwwle pup chilling under the boardwalk.

We ate lunch at a little place 5 minutes down the road, right on the water. I walked down the path to checkout the beach which I found very different from my beach at home. Check it out...

No sand here... Instead, the smoothest rocks you could ever step upon. And you can't miss the snow covered mountains in the background. <3 breathtaking.

After lunch we drove along the coast in search of a waterfall a local recommended we visit. After about 20 minutes of driving, we couldn't find the fall but instead another colony of barkers sunbathing on the rocks.

Some hippy jumped in the picture too.

Got as close as possible, had to sneak in for this one....

Got barked at 2 seconds later and jumped away as fast as I could. But of course went back a few minutes later for this one....

Even let Ethan get semi close :P

Just can't get over the natural beauty this place has!

:)

At least the frog was smiling :P

Heather managed to grab his attention for this great shot though. Good job mom :D

<3

We didn't manage to find the waterfall until we were on the way out and all of our eyelids were too heavy to stay; but we were so happy we were able to experience such great weather and that so many seals were out and about playing.

Kaikoura was yet another lovely place I am so happy Heather took me to admire. I have fallen completely in love with this country.