Mike's Day 10: Fur Seals at Red Rocks

After returning from Taupo, we spent early Monday afternoon back at the Visitor's Centre booking our flight to Christchurch, train ride from Christchurch to Picton, and ferry ride from Picton back to Wellington.

With some time left to spare, we decided to head out to Sinclair Head at Red Rocks to see the colony of male fur seals that camp out there.

After a little bit of a confusing bus ride, we disembarked prematurely and wound up with a heck of a walk ahead of us. It took maybe an hour to walk along Island Bay and Owhiro Bay and finally to the entrance to the beginning of the walk to the fur seals. It was a gorgeous day (although slightly windy) so we didn't mind. Yet.

One thing to bear in mind if you ever plan on doing this little trip is that you should start in the morning. Once you've started the official walk out to Sinclair Head, it's very rugged and, as is pretty normal here in Wellington, windier than a mother-effer.

Owhiro Bay, on the way to the Red Rocks/Sinclair Head walk

Owhiro Bay

I believe we got to the start of the walk around 3 or 4pm, and the walk to the actual fur seals is marketed as 40 minutes each way, but in reality is at least an hour each way; 90 minutes if the wind starts kicking up. It's a gorgeous walk, but not one you want to navigate in the dark.

Wellington waaaaaaaaaaay off in the distance

Anyhoo, once we got there, the payoff was worth it:

As you can see, there is no barrier between yourself and the seals. This is thrilling as it makes it quite a humblng experience. Male fur seals (bulls), however, can be very aggressive if you get too close to them, which explains the look on my face in some of the photos. I made a point of trying to give them as much space as possible, especially once they lock eyes on you.
It is a bit worriesome at the same time to think that there's no one around to protect them from meddling humans. But hopefully they're able to protect themselves...and if their bite is anything like their bark, I'd say they can.

We couldn't hang out too much with our new buddies (a slightly one-sided relationship, but that's ok), as it was getting dark and we still had to walk the hour back to the start of the walk, and then try to find our way home. And it was getting way cold and bloody windy.

Luckily, once again, my flattie Steven came to the rescue. He was able to come and pick us up after a while...

We rounded out the day with dinner at my fave restaurant here, Kai in the City. Seriously, people, the trip to NZ is worth it just for this lovely, warm, friendly, yummy restaurant.