Beach Hop South- Ngawi- Part 2; Lighthouse & Seals

Catch-up, we're still in the Catlins and enjoying every minute, the wildlife encounters have been amazing, I can't wait to bring them to you. Although the weather leaves a lot to be desired (the story of our lives recently) but I have heard it is similar right around New Zealand except for a couple of hot(literally) spots- Hawkes Bay & Northland- funnily enough both where my family live! We've also been out of internet reception for a few days hence the delay in posting this blog.

Continuing on from Part 1

One of our first tasks after settling in at Ngawi was to visit the lighthouse at Cape Palliser, a further 5kms past Ngawi and through the small coastal settlement of Mangatoetoe. The old Lighthouse keeper's house sits at the bottom...

...of an impressive flights of steps...

...which we have to climb to take in the views.

All two hundred and fifty three (253) steps; one foot in front of the other, slowly, slowly does it, hold onto the rail, don't stumble, feel the pain. It helps to carry a camera, stopping to take photos on the way up provides a good cover to catch your breath.

This grand old lady is built of cast iron and has stood on the cliffs here since 1897 and she is still shining strong.

Lighthouse details are on the shed at the base of the steps- don't forget to click on the photo to enlarge.

The 180 degree views are spectacular even on a dull overcast day- looking north...

...and south. We stay for 10-15 minutes soaking in the views and encouraging other stair climbers as they falter near the top.

And then it's time to head back down...just as slowly and just as painfully.

Someone with a sense of humour owns this bach (we're in the North Island, so they are baches not cribs), you can see it in the photo looking south from the lighthouse above; it's on the shoreline between the road and the water. Perhaps there are a few frosts on the coast in the dead of winter but falling ice? I'm sure the last time there would have been ice here was during the last ice age. And the mannequin in the window is classic Mum. Those that know my mother will understand.

This huge slab of sandstone rock near Mangatoetoe was thrust up by an earthquake a very long time ago (imagine if that had happened at Kaikoua!). It's called Kupe's Sail after the shape of the sail on the Polynesian explorer's canoe.

This is the south side of Kupe's Sail, taken on a different day when I went to visit the seal colony.

The same day I shot this photo of the lighthouse- what a difference a bit of sun, some puffy white clouds and a bit of blue sky make.

Just before the lighthouse, amongst a particularly rocky part of the coastline, lives North Island's largest colony of NZ Fur Seals/Kekeno. Look carefully, they are very well disguised.

And in amongst the rocks is a large saltwater pool which acts as a creche at this time of the year, for some very cute seal pups (similar to Ohau Stream near Kaikoura). The pups are able to safely swim and play while their mothers are away feeding at sea; they can be gone for three days or more before they return to their hungry pups.

This little guy is patiently waiting for his mum's return.

Mothers, pups, a few males and other non-breeding seals also relax amongst the rocks. Some are blissfully unaware of me, others take no notice as I carefully rock hop around the outskirts of the colony. 

Others carefully watch as I pass by. They also watch for aggressive males who are on the prowl looking at building up their harem or fighting other bulls in the area. Occasionally, I frighten both myself and the seal as I come across a few that have removed themselves further away from the colony (look at that expression on the pup's face)

In amongst it all there are quite a number of nursing mums and fat healthy pups feeding. This little guy had a go on every nipple (4) before lolling back in the warm sun to fall asleep. I was amazed at the noise the pups make while nursing; extremely loud slurps.

Later on, when I passed back by this pair, the pup was well and truly in the land of nod.

Other than keeping an eye out for the occasional bull seal who crashes the party, there's nothing much to do but snooze in the sun.

And if mum's not there to keep an eye out for you then the safest place for little ones is back in the paddling pool with your friends...

Learning to fly?...

Or having a good scratch-  'Poster Pup' (or was that poser pup)...

'Ooooohhhhhh.........that's hit the spot, it's feels sooooo good'

This little pup has climbed up high and found a place in the sun...

Everyone is on snooze time today. Seals own snoozing.

'Bye, bye Shellie' (seals lift their flipper in the air to cool down; it directs the breeze down onto them)

Ngawi continued...Part 3

Picton to Parnassus

After a rather noisy night parked at the Evans Bay carpark, we were up bright and early and ready to roll, well ahead of schedule. It was a quick and painless trip through the early morning rush-hour traffic to the downtown ferry terminal where we lined up to wait for boarding to commence. We’re travelling with Bluebridge once again, while both shipping companies give good discounts if you’re a member of NZMCA, we save a quite a bit more with Bluebridge.

Once the trucks have been loaded, we’re next in the queue; we seem to always lead everyone else up the ramp, it must be to do with our 14.5 metre length. No problem there, first on means first off too!

It was a cold, grey day in Wellington but luckily for me there wasn’t too much wind. My fingers were crossed for a smooth sailing.

The drizzle started as we pulled away from the wharf. I was hoping for a bright day to take this photo of the cool terraced houses on the hill above Oriental Bay. I have seen many prints on walls of this scene. Perhaps next time I’ll get a bit more colour.

It was too cold out on the deck so I moved indoors, found David and we retired to the movie theatre to watch a movie. We’ve only been to the pictures twice since leaving for our life on the road and both those times have been on the Cook Strait ferry! How sad is that? After Paddington Bear last time, today’s movie was “Far from the Madding Crowd”, a chick flick that I didn’t think was that great but at least it took my mind off the choppy sea outside. The movie finished just as we entered the Sounds, out on deck I could hardly see from one side to the other through the mist and cloud. Picton was ahead of us somewhere.

It was still cold and wet when we drove off the ferry heading for Blenheim but by the time we were out the other side of the city the sun was shining and the roads dry. And it’s not only the roads that were dry, the hills were too, although with just a hint of green. Marlborough and North Canterbury are still fighting severe drought conditions and it doesn’t look too good for the summer with our friend El nino expected. This is in stark contrast to the lush green Hawkes Bay farmland we drove through just yesterday.

We pass the salt ponds at Lake Grassmere, with just a touch of pink showing. I’ve no need to stop to take photos of the ponds this time, I had much better colour, November two years ago.

And no need to visit the seal pups at Ohau waterfall either (top photo below), I’ve been there 3 times on our trips past. I wonder if eventually I’ll be saying that for the whole of the South Island. “no need to stop there David, no photos needed here darling, yes I have that church…”. I guess that’ll be the time to leave the south.

We’ve already noticed that there are many more motorhomes on the road since we left the south 2 months ago. Just about every 2nd vehicle was a motorhome of some sort; either a rental or with NZMCA member’s ‘wings’ on them. It’s going to be a busy summer me thinks.

We did stop so I could see if the shag colony near the waterfall still had chicks but they had all flown the nest and there were only bundles of twigs and empty egg shells littering the ledge.

This is a sign you’ll not see often. Luckily for us (and them), the seals were taking a day off from sunning themselves on the tarmac.

Not too far south of Kaikoura there are two separate very narrow road tunnels that scare the bejesus out of both of us; they are so narrow with fast approaches and sharp exits (depending on the direction you’re heading). I suck in my breath (and tummy) whenever I glance in the side mirror to see how close we are to the wall. It’s a close shave I’m sure, in fact I know it is, going by the scrape marks along the tunnel wall.

We were stopped behind this guy at some roadworks. Who knew there were motorised wheelbarrows out there? Not me. Is that cheating or what? Perfect for a wheelbarrow race though, as long as you could hide the workings.

And here we are parked up at the NZMCA Park at Parnassus in North Canterbury. We’re making good time, it’s hard to believe we were in Napier just over 24 hours ago.

And just in case you’re getting ideas; I won’t be doing a daily blog post, just keeping up to date for now.

Nugget Point Lighthouse

Nugget Point welcoming committee-

Nugget Point is one of the most iconic landforms on the Otago coast and I must say it is very spectacular. Located at the northern end of the Catlins & down the road from Kaka Point this steep & dramatic headland has a lighthouse at its tip and is surrounded by rocky islets which are known as "The Nuggets".

A 20 minute walk along an easy track takes you to the lighthouse & viewing platform. Just a short distance from the car park this lookout gives great seascape views looking north and also overlooks a steep cliff with beautiful rocky inlets below. Spread out on the rocks & swimming in amongst the kelp are dozens of seals.

The flat rocky platform to the left is also a seal crèche and looking carefully with the binoculars we could see many tiny seal pups, some playing in the pools, one even suckling. The plaintive cries, which sound very child like, reached up to us on the platform. The rock stacks have many different resting seabirds.

The 10-metre Nugget Point lighthouse stands 76 metres above sea level on a point close to the "Nugget" rocks. First lit in 1870, the lighthouse was automated in 1988. I couldn't decide which photos to post so you get a selection!

To the right of the lighthouse in the photo below, you can see part of the viewing platform, the bit that extends out over open air.

The wave eroded "Nuggets" as seen from the viewing platform in front of the lighthouse are quite spectacular.

The south side of Nugget Point-

While standing on the platform dozens of spotted shags flew past at eye level on their way to their feeding grounds.

Below is the part of the platform that overhangs open air, the grill in the floor allows you to see down to the rocky shoreline far below. This is looking south down towards Cannibal Bay, Surat Bay & far away Jack's Bay. The cries & barks of more seals reached us high up on the platform and unless you had binoculars you would be unable to see that the rocks below also are covered in seals basking in the sun.

The bull kelp around these rocks reminded me of piupiu (a Maori skirt-like garment) The kelp moved gracefully back & forward in the gentle swell & the contrast between the rich copper colour of the kelp & deep blue of the water was amazing.