New Zealand trip Day 13 - East coast

Time on our trip is running out. Only three more nights. We decide to make for Kaikoura on the east coast. Getting there took most of a day from Anakiwa, given how easily distracted we are on the road. A few stops on the way. A very enjoyable little drive.

Queen Charlotte Drive between Anakiwa and Picton skirts the water and is a very picturesque journey, a wiggly road past a succession of small bays backed by steep hills covered in ferns.

Waimahara wharf near Picton is the destination for timber bound for export. Busy, busy.

Round the corner is the passenger wharf from which the Interislander ferries disembark huge numbers of people and vehicles from the North Island.

It barrels up at a rate of knots then does a u-ey,

and reverses expertly into its parking space as if it was no bigger than a Daihatsu sedan.

This is the iconic Picton harbour shot, taken from the entry archway at the foreshore in front of the main road. Picton is full of great little shops selling kiwiana. Some Christmas shopping might possibly have been done...

South of Picton, heading to Blenheim, you pass through the Marlborough wine area.

The east coast is remarkably different to the west coast of the S Island. Here on the east coast, it is much drier and huge tracts of waving grass dominate the landscape. Lots of sheep. Was it once forested, we wonder?

 The road begins to hug the coast at Wharanui.

All along this coast there are fur seal colonies. Here is a mother returning to the rocks. She climbed out and called to her pup, which emerged from a nearby hiding spot and came up to her.

This Oahu Creek waterfall. In winter, this is a nursery pool for new seal pups that are parked there by their mothers and spend their days frolicking about, socialising and learning swimming skills.
Look here for a video http://www.stuff.co.nz/marlborough-express/news/8501943/Look-but-don-t-touch-appealing-seal-pups

The day we went, there was one little guy, maybe a late born pup, one of the last of the season. It was rolling and somersaulting in an adorable way. Their mothers are out to sea for up to 20 days. The pups go down to the rocky beach to be fed.

There were some more slightly larger pups frolicking around in a sea pool not far away.

Kaikoura is famous for its crayfish. We stopped at Nin's Bin, a little caravan set up near the beach north of Kaikoura and bought a beauty.

Good dinner that night at our cottage on South Bay, near Kaikoura. The Harakeke Farm chardonnay was a cracking accompaniment.

South Bay has good sunsets

I am fascinated by these beaches made of tiny smooth pebbles. This one was black/grey.

Sea lettuce and rocks

The wavelets coming in make a mesmerising shooshing sound.

I stood there for ages, being mindful in the moment, relaxing, breathing....