Fur Seals

I ran into the German couple again while I was returning my key this morning; they were apparently staying at the same lodging. At this point it’s starting to feel like that episode of the Twilight Zone where the lady is driving across the country and keeps seeing the same hitchhiker.

After leaving Abel Tasman I stopped at a cafe that had a “world famous sausage rolls” sign out front. I refrained from rushing in and yelling “You did it, congratulations!”, but I did order one, and I gotta say, while I don’t have a lot of sausage roll experience, it was the best one I’ve had.

After saying goodbye to the Germans (again), followed by the famous sausage, it was mostly a driving day, first through the mountains, then through tiny towns and inlets along the northern part of the South Island. At one point the highway turned inland, but an inconspicuous sign reading “scenic route” pointed towards the coast, and luckily I’m not prone to motion sickness because the coastal route was extremely twisty, but also extremely scenic. I made an additional detour to the small harbor town of Picton where ferries depart for the North Island, and eventually made my way south to the town of Kaikoura, visiting another fur seal colony along the way.

Kaikoura is a bit like Monterey (California), with cold, deep waters offshore that attract a ton of marine life. There’s a colony of several hundred fur seals just outside of town, whale watch tours depart daily to see sperm whales, huge pods of dolphins can be seen frolicking along the coast, albatross and petrels glide across the waves farther offshore, and seagulls steal anything left unattended. I booked a last-minute whale watching trip that departs first thing tomorrow, mainly just as an excuse to get out on the water and see the birds and dolphins, although I’m also excited to see a sperm whale since I don’t think I’ve ever seen one before.