Washouts, too many steps and seals.

7th November

We love being right by the sea, the sound of the waves hitting the rocks never disturbed our sleep at all.
 It was gone 7 am before we woke, time for tea (thank you, Ian) I have still managed to keep him as tea maker. Anyway this morning we also booked the ferry across to South Island. Looking online for mid-December (19th) I couldn't believe the cost of the crossing. $498 for a one way!  So checked the cost for a week earlier. $298 a much better amount. I suppose its all to do with the summer holidays over here, same as in the UK, the prices go up in peak times. We belong to NZMCA (motor home and caravan association) and get a discount on the ferries. A saving of $98 bringing the total down to $200, and that was not to be sneezed at! The 12th December is our sailing date, doesn't quite give us as long on North Island as we wanted, but we will be returning this way next year.

Having spent the best part of the morning sorting things out we eventually walked toward the fishing boats.

All in a row and housed in a cradle. To get down to the sea the cradles are pushed back by tractors, very rusty but serve the purpose. We were lucky enough to arrive when a boat was coming in and stood fascinated by the skill of the Captain.  See the video's below.

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By lunchtime, we had made it to the most Southern lighthouse on this coast, Cape Pallister. Palliser (no T in Palliser (thank you, Marilyn.) The road was once again badly damaged by washout, I found out from a local it was this year's storms that had done most of the damage. 

 Wow, the lighthouse looked a long way up and when I saw the climb to the top, oh no...not with my knees! Instead, I sent Ian, he's a lot more sprightly than me, and he assured me his calf muscles had recovered. 252 steps Ian counted on the way up. The views were amazing as I thought they would be, he took photos on his phone. I took some of his climb!

 

Right by the car park was the rocky beach. On the rocks lay seals, lots of them. More were to be found on  the return journey, in fact they were everywhere, and there were more than just seals in the water!

 Parking up and walking along the rocky shore, at every turn another seal to greet us.

 In fact some had even hidden under bushes, we happened to walk right by them and then, good grief I got the fright of my life as a nose appeared as if from nowhere and snorted at me. The pups had their own swimming pool, lovely to watch them frolicking.

 Made our way to a DOC camp site tonight. The Pinnacles walk start from this site, another so-called easy walk....we will see come morning!

And wildlife