We're Back in the South Island- Kaikoura; Part 2

Real-time

Continued on from Part 1

The Ohau Point seal colony, north of Kaikoura, has always been a regular place for us to stop on our way up or down the main highway and I was keen to see how it had fared after sustaining extensive damage during the 2016 Kaikoura Earthquake.

It was a pleasant surprise to see that as a result of the 'quake the colony now has a large rocky platform to rest on, most of it having been pushed up out of the ocean. The platform also contains numerous small pools, a perfect nursery playground for the seal pups to play in while they wait for their mothers to return from the sea.

There's also a new landscaped parking bay and viewing area along the edge of the colony's rocky platform. 

This was the old parking area, look how close the sea was before the 'quake. The seabed has been pushed up quite a height, it now finishes at the back of the seal colony's platform.  

The world famous Ohau Stream Waterfall pool was destroyed in the 'quake. This was where the seal pups from the colony used to travel 500mtrs up the stream to the pool seeking shelter, safety and to play in the fresh water pool. It's also where they entertained hundreds of tourists.

I'm very grateful that we were able to visit the pool a number of times in the past, it was a very special place and especially if you were the only one there being entertained by curious seal pups. Although towards the end it was getting a bit out of hand with dozens of people descending on the pool daily, many of them disturbing the pups by swimming with them, touching them and trying to get selfies. I was due to do a month at the pool as a volunteer ranger when the 'quake happened. These photos are from one of our previous visits.

Now with several pools on the platform, the pups can play and are safe from crashing waves, marauding males and overpowering people...

...as they wait for Mum to return from the sea. And when she does arrive there's no way this pup is letting go.

The road north of Kaikoura was lifted by over 4 metres in places and although the road has been reopened for over 18 months, there's still a lot of road repairs, rail line embankments and rock face work going on, along with stop & go people and lights (with helpful countdown).

They certainly have done a lot of work though and it's actually quite hard to see where old sections of the road finish & new ones start.

Our next overnight stop is at an old favourite of ours, Donegal House, an Irish Hotel on the outskirts of Kaikoura. 

Donegal House also has a campervan park; there are two large areas for RVs to park. Power is available on one side of the Park at $20 per van, if you don't need power then it is free to park. Of course it would be courteous to partake in happy hour or a meal at the pub though. And especially when it's a cold winter's night and the fire is roaring away inside.

We parked in the smaller area this time, backed up to a paddock with a small pond. Last time we were here there was a lonely (& rare) white swan on the pond, he was missing this time so I hope he's been packed off  to find a mate.

We stopped at the South Bay Marina on our way to the Kaikoura Peninsula Walkway which we'd decided to walk. The snow covered Seaward Kaikoura Range made a great backdrop to the hauled out fishing fleet.

The last time we stopped at the marina, it was in atrocious weather but we'd wanted to see how the rebuilding of the harbour was going after the seabed was pushed up by the 'quake making it very difficult for the commercial boats to enter & exit the harbour on anything but a full high tide.

The tourist tour boats now have their own jetties at the new South Bay Marina and there's also a separate jetty for cruise boat tenders to disembark passengers.

I've walked the Kaikoura Peninsula Walkway previously, this time David decided to walk in from the Point Kean end and meet me half way. He dropped me at the South Bay entrance and then drove back into town and out to Point Kean at the end of the peninsula. I love this view back over South Bay as I climb the walkway to the top of the sea cliffs.

From the lookout above South Bay the track crosses farmland until it reaches the edge of the cliffs on the ocean side of the peninsula. There are magnificent views out over the sea and down to the papa rock reefs below. A large seal colony rests in the sun on the rocks here with some snoozing the day away stretched out in amongst the overgrown grass above the beach. Some of the people walking along the track around the shoreline cross through the grass without realising that there are seals there. They move pretty quickly when a large brown 'slug' lifts it's head nearby.

I meet David about two thirds of the way along the top and we then retraced my steps for a short distance and descended the steep stairway down onto the beach below and walk back around the rocks, David crossing the same grassy seal track but being very cautious he doesn't stumble over one of those hidden seals. It is actually quite hard to see them down at ground level.

I walked around the edge of the rocks taking photos of the snoozing seals tucked into nooks and crannies and lolling over  the edge of the rocks close to the beach. They seemed totally oblivious to people passing by although I did see the odd eye open, scan & then shut again.

The only movement in the colony were these two young seals play-fighting and a wary guy watching from behind.

There was once a large colony of seals at Point Kean, they used to be everywhere, on the rocks, over the road, up the stairways, under the bushes and on the boardwalk but once again the 'quake has raised the seabed here and it seems that they have moved further south and joined up with the colony we've just passed.  Some have moved out to the edge of the reef at Point Kean and there are still three or four seals loyal to the carpark but nothing like it used to be when most of the car parks were taken up by seals.

But the saddest sight of all was the old nursery pond alongside the boardwalk. This was once teeming with seal pups, now it's an overgrown stagnant duck pond.

From Kaikoura we headed south aiming for Christchurch but only making it to Parnassus. Why the hurry we said.

The main road south of Kaikoura is also still under repair although they have done one heck of a lot of work since we last came through, when we did a loop from Hanmer Springs to check on progress. I bet not many people would be able to say they drove through one of the Raramai Tunnels the wrong way. The photo on the bottom right was from that loop trip, it looks like they have increased the height from 4.38 metres  to 4.6 metres and widen the mouth (it's still pretty tight though).

As we were driving through the Hunderlee Hills, I spotted a familiar looking rig, complete with bright coloured kayak on the roof, approaching us through a thicket of bare poplar trees. There was a lot of mad waving from both sides as we passed.  

We've often been in a similar area but usually one of us is leaving as the other is arriving. We did manage to meet at Omakau a long time ago & at Warbirds a little later on. Then there was the time we didn't realise we were together at Napier's Ericksen Road Park until one of us was pulling out the gate. A friendship made over the internet through a love of RVing and belonging to the same motorhoming forums and Facebook pages. After some frantic texting the bus turned around and that is how we found ourselves having a coffee and then happy hour at NZMCA Parnassus in the company of John & Lorraine. It was lovely that they turned around and great to catch up with them because it could be another 4 years before we see them again!

Sunset- Parnassus NZMCA Park

From Parnassus we headed straight through to NZMCA Weedons Park which is not far south of Christchurch city. We have stayed at Weedons on a regular basis over the years and it felt quite comforting arriving back there, a bit like coming home.

It's a pity the weather didn't get the memo we'd be arriving though (and we'd need some sun to ease us into a South Island winter).

I think we had one blue sky day (and that was on the day we were leaving) during the week we were there. And then one of our diesel heaters spat the dummy and had to be serviced which was probably just as well going by the extreme frosts we've been having since we left Christchurch.

Northbound along the Pacific Coast

An update post on our whereabouts; we’re moving quite quickly up the east coast heading for the top of the South Island at the moment.

Can you believe it? I didn’t take any photos while we were parked for 5 nights at Weedons in Christchurch. Probably because other than the day we arrived it was cold and wet for most of the time. I also spent alot of time catching up on photos and blog posts and didn’t want to add to the pile!
 
Typical Murphy’s Law though, the weather cleared as we hitched up to head out of Christchurch.We thought we might head to the NZMCA Park at Parnassus but it looked a little lonely & forlorn as we drove by, so we carried on, heading for Kaikoura.

Here’s us parked at the NZMCA Park which is beside the Kaikoura racecourse, it’s not the most photogenic site at ground level surrounded by loose boxes and open stalls but take the stairway up behind and the views are fabulous out over South Bay. The walkway crosses farmland behind and ends up in town, not on the Kaikoura Peninsula Walkway as I found out the last time we stopped here (there are plenty of links to click on in this post- they are the posts from our last visits)

We left the van hitched to the ute for the night, we often do that if we’re just staying overnight, it saves a little time in the morning. That was until I decided I should nip around the corner and out to Kean Point to check out the seals and especially the seal pups. There’s always adult or teenage seals at the point, lounging about in the carpark and over the boardwalk…

…and at this time of the year there are plenty of super cute seal pups wandering about or sleeping under the bushes. This slick little wet guy was keen to check me out and waddled along the bottom of the wall until he came to the steps which he then bounded up. He then decided to explore a puddle in the carpark and when I moved in to take a photo he mock charged me. He then charged a few others that approached him, he was having fun, he’d follow people along the road and when they stopped to say hello he’d charge them. Little tyke.

Then he decided to follow me up another stairway to where his playmates were sleeping under the bushes on a bank. He climbed over the concrete wall beside the steps, they are quite agile considering how awkward they look moving about and then made a nuisance of himself by clambering over the sleeping beauties. They didn’t seem to mind and either rolled over or curled back up to continue sleeping. Doesn’t the pup on the left look odd with it’s neck resting on a branch, he’s obviously had some good meals from Mum.

Other seals from the colony rested on the rock stacks beside the car park with the snow covered Kaikoura Range as a backdrop.

As I was driving back home I noticed the setting sun was causing some dark rays reaching down to the horizon out at sea. At first I thought it might have been my eyes and the angle I was looking through the glass of the car window. I pulled over to take some photos. These are called crepuscular rays, rays that stream through gaps in the clouds that are columns of sunlit air separated by darker cloud-shadowed regions. So in fact the darker lines aren’t the rays, they’re the cloud shadow, the lighter areas beside them are the rays.

The next day we stopped at a number of places of interest north of Kaikoura, the first was to check a rocky point where I’d seen dozens of Spotted Shags/Parekareka nesting the last time we passed by. There were just half a dozen early birds (cool- double entendre ;)) preparing their nests in the best spots; the deepest ledge on the vertical rock face.

I wonder how many chicks tumble over the edge and into the ocean below each season, last time I was here there were nests tucked into some very precarious spots on the wall above this prized ledge.

And of course the next stop had to be at Ohau Point to see the seal pup nursery at the waterfall. The last time we called here there were 50-60 pups clambering up the stream to the waterfall and swimming in the pool at the foot of the falls but it’s getting late in the season now and while there were dozens of bigger pups sunning themselves and sleeping on the rocks beside the sea there were only half a dozen smaller pups up near the waterfall and just one lone little guy swirling and flipping under the falls. This pair were keeping each other company near the stream, the one on the left wasn’t worried about me but his friend kept a wary eye(or two) on my movements.

So that’s what they mean about having eyes in the back of your head! And as you can see, they have HUGE eyes.

There’s a freedom camping area on the seaward side of the main highway at Paparoa Point, there’s also a seal colony nearby that ponged to high heaven and masses of tiny flies that had settled over the back of this caravan whose owners were certainly going to get a shock when they came home from exploring.

Our next stop over is at one our favourite places along the Marlborough/Canterbury coastline; the rugged and windswept Ward Beach. The camping area is part of a farm and is beside the Ward Reserve. An area has been cleared and fenced right above the beach and as long as you’re CSC (certified self-contained) and pay a donation to the farm owners, you’re welcome to stay.

There’s a garden of painted stones from visitors past and a pile of sturdy walking sticks at the gate. You’ll need a stick if you go for a walk, the beach is deep gravel and takes a bit of energy to walk over.

But its well worth a walk up the beach towards Cape Campbell where there are some huge limestone rock formations and a seal colony. We didn’t venture up there this time, I took this photo back in February….roll on summer!

I’ve been half-heartedly trying to catch the Aurora Australis (aka the Southern Lights) while we’ve been travelling the south but I either miss the night they play with spectacular colours for all to see with the naked eye or I forget to look to see what the prediction is when we are in a good viewing area. A couple of times I’ve found out too late or we’ve been parked in town or behind a hill or it’s way too cold or there’s no water for a reflection. Now that we’re moving north it’s getting harder to find the right area, I kicked myself last Saturday night (well actually Sunday morning) when we were parked at Kakanui on the cliff edge with a perfect view south and the lights put on a fantastic show…..while I slept on. I forgot all about it.

So I thought I might pick up a little of the lights from Ward beach if the call went out that the solar activity was increasing. So I set up the camera and waited….and waited. My activity alerts headed in the wrong direction, it was all quite on the southern front. I did get a few shots of the Milky Way and a little colour from around the edge of the huge hill in front of me but I’m thinking they are the light glare from Christchurch.

Now I’ll just have to wait until we’re back in down South to try again. I did do a shoot while we were in Winton, I drove around to the sports field on the edge of town where it was nice and dark, set my gear up and waited in the freezing cold with snow all around me. I didn’t last long, the first shots showed me that I had a two bloody power lines straight through the centre of the photo. Memo to ones self- check the view out before it gets dark.

Finally, after numerous visits to Ward Beach, we got to see the bulldozer launch the crayfishing boat off the beach. Every other stop the sea has been too rough. So when I heard a loud rumble early this morning I shot out of bed, threw on some clothes and grabbed my camera. The boats are stored in shed back up the road and the bulldozers are kept near where we’re parked.

Now you can see how loose the gravel is, and how hard the bulldozer has to work to tow the boat through.

The boat is backed into the water on the quiet side of the small bay and released from the cradle, it great to see it’s a cat (catamaran), perfect for the rough seas and a stable platform while they’re lifting and setting the cray pots (Ok Shellie, you’re not selling boats now)…

…the skipper then waits for the driver to park the ‘dozer….

…and board before they roar off up the coast.

We left before they returned and, not that they would have showed us, but I wonder what their catch was like. We stopped at one of the crayfish stalls on the main road north of Kaikoura the other day just to see how much they were charging. I nearly fell over, $78, SEVENTY EIGHT DOLLARS for the tiniest of crays a cray that looked more like a large prawn than a crayfish. And with two rental motorhomes and around six tourists eating a pile of crayfish on the table beside the stall they obviously have no trouble selling them.

We're now parked at another favourite of ours on the coast; the DOC Camp at Marfells Beach, just south of Seddon and beside the Grassmere Salt Lakes. Oh, it's a tough life...

Back to the Maniototo posts soon….

Ohau Seals

One more place I wanted to stop on our way south was Ohau Point to see some of the large colony of New Zealand Fur Seal (Maori name- Kekeno) that resides along this rugged coastline north of Kaikoura.

And in particular the Ohau Stream & waterfall which flows into the ocean at this point. Over the winter months there can sometimes be a few hundred seal pups swimming and playing in the pool below the falls or resting on the rocks & boulders that line the stream. These pups were born in the previous spring and have made their way 700mtrs up the rocky stream, no mean feat in itself, to look after themselves while their mothers are away at sea feeding. This protects them from marauding males and because seals are very social animals it also provides them with support & playmates while they’re on their own. They must return to the coast every few days to feed on their mother’s milk.

 
Sadly for us the last of the pups have weaned and left the stream to join the colony back on the coast. I knew we would be lucky to see them as it is getting on into early summer now but there have in the past been reports of pups in the pool into December. This will be one place we’ll need to come back to during winter.

We enjoyed watching the antics of some of the seals as they lolled in the sun on the warm rocks.

 

You can see the bite marks across the back of this big guy.

 

Males can weight up to 200kgs while the females are considerably smaller at 40-50kgs, we could also see some of the newly weaned pups in amongst the herd. At this time of the year the males are vying for position and establishing their harem. 

This particular guy “owned” the rock pool he was in and he charged & chased any males that approached it. He launch himself off the rocks into the swirling white water time & time again chasing after any seal that even looked like it was going to climb up onto the surrounding rocks. He’d be gone a few minutes and cruise back in on incoming wave & throw himself back up and into the pool again laying on his back waving his flipper in triumphant success and do a few victory rolls while he was at it.

 

 

That was until this smaller guy cautiously approached & peered over the edge.

I don’t know why he thought he could succeed where others had failed but he slithered over the top and it was game on!

They battled for well over ten  minutes, whacking heads as they tried to grab each other’s jaw, locking teeth sometimes, taking bites across the back & doing death rolls. At one stage the big guy rolled on & held the other one under water for a time. In the end the little guy gingerly heaved himself out and slithered away. The big guy climbed along the edge & seem to be checking that all his girls were still there, & more importantly, had seen the battle. Most snoozed on in indifference.

Just along from one of the seal colony lookouts was a rookery of Spotted Shags(Parekareka)  & their nearly fully grown chicks. The nests were in some impossible positions, especially the ones down on the recesses of the cliff face & I wonder how the chicks manage to hold on and not slip over the side into the ocean below, especially when they were small. I also wonder how they manage when a storm blows in.

After leaving the seals we made our way south and then inland for 6kms alongside a wide braided river valley full of shingle & boulders washed down from the mountain range that rises steeply off the coast in the area.

The river was low & icy blue indicating that it was coming from the snow melt further inland & probably off Mt Alexander which still had snow on its upper reaches. We were heading to the DOC camp at PuhiPuhi Reserve, a small clearing beside a bush reserve at the junction of two rivers, the PuhiPuhi & the Parapara.

We were the first to arrive at this isolated camp site & I wondered how many, if any, would arrive later in the afternoon & evening. In fact by night fall there were four of us settled in for & then another two vehicles arrived sometime in the night.

With rain threatening & the odd shower passing over we went for an explore up the stony river bed which was very hard going on my tender feet, especially when we crossed the ice cold ‘river’ to check out the narrow opening through the rock face. In a flood the water must roar through this point & I’d hate the thought of getting caught in it.

 

A steady rain started in the night and continued on into this morning. This is the first rain we have had since leaving Tauranga over six weeks ago & it was especially welcome to wash the dust of the ute & fifth-wheeler, even though David had cleaned it back in Blenheim at the Top10 park. It also gave David a chance to test out his water catching methods & fill our tank & drink containers although we had only just topped up the tank a couple of days ago. Our motto; “Never miss an opportunity to fill, pump or dump”  :)