New Zealand, Kaikoura: Fur Seals on the East Coast

We were very happy to have seen several New Zealand fur seals along the eastern coast of the South Island, and it was interesting to watch the fur seals move along the rocky coastline
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To get to Kaikoura, we first had to take the ferry across from Wellington to Picton, crossing from New Zealand's North Island to its South Island during a stunning 60-mile journey with breathtaking scenery on either side of the boat. Our ferry left at 8:25am and we had woken up at 6:40am to pack up our campervan, Bessie, and leave the holiday park where we had stayed for a couple of nights in Wellington, so we would be in time to check in one hour before our departure.

The ferry was gigantic, with two floors of parking for vehicles of all sizes. Once we pulled Bessie into the vehicle bay, turned off her engine, and put on her emergency brake, we walked to the lift (that's the same as an elevator for the Americans reading this) to go up a few floors to one of the passenger decks. We weren't allowed to remain in our vehicle while the boat crossed the Cook Strait due to safety reasons, but that was okay because the upstairs decks were much more comfortable anyway.

We watched around ten of the fur seals, including some younger pups, laying out in the sunshine and enjoying the day

The coast at Kaikoura was beautiful, with snow-capped mountains in the distance and a long, pebble beach with clear water
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The journey lasted three hours and the water was calm, so the trip was quite enjoyable. First, we sat in the bar area, but then we decided to have some iced coffees and we moved to the cafe area. Both of those were on the 8th floor of the boat, and there was also a large canteen-style restaurant on the 7th floor, and a cinema on the 2nd floor. We were lucky that the weather was so fine that morning; on the way back to the North Island a couple of weeks later, we weren't so lucky. Keep your eyes peeled for the second Wellington journal entry which will tell you all about the nightmare of a ferry crossing.

The view of Picton from the ferry was beautiful under the clear blue sky we were granted with during a lot of our time in New Zealand
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Driving on and off the ferry was a simple affair and we were on the road to Christchurch before we knew it. Our final destination that day was Christchurch, but we made a couple of stops along the way that warranted a separate journal entry for Kaikoura, or so we thought. We filled Bessie's tank with petrol at a station in Blenheim and we shared a meat pie there, too, out of habit, before continuing our drive south along the eastern coast of the island.

Not too far away from Blenheim, there was a small town called Ward with a nice little cafe, and we stopped again to share another meat pie and a dessert. We took our time that day because we were slightly ahead of schedule and were in no big rush to get anywhere. Inside the cafe, we obtained some information from a woman working at the counter, and then we drove back onto the highway in the direction of Kaikoura. We saw our first of many snow-capped mountains on the South Island during that drive, and we took in some picturesque views of the coastline, too.

We had to include some sheep photos for this journal entry, since we passed many farms during our drive from Picton to Kaikoura
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At Ohau Point, we caught our first glimpse of New Zealand fur seals. There was a large colony living on the coast there, and we watched around ten of the fur seals, including some younger pups, laying out in the sunshine and enjoying the day. The adults were very large, at least the size of a grown human, and they were resting on the rocks and grass along the coast to build up their energy to go out and hunt for more food.

The Maori name for New Zealand fur seals was "kokono". The seals are actually found along the south coast of Australia as well as on the coasts of the South Island in New Zealand. The seals were widely hunted from shortly after the European discovery of New Zealand until the late 19th century. The population of the seals fell to under 10% of the original numbers, so many efforts have been put in place to stop the eradication of the species, including the addition of the seals to the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1978.

The New Zealand fur seal in this photo was taking a break from fishing
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The weather that day was sunny and warm, with a cool breeze coming off the water, and we wished we could lay out under the sun with the seals, but we had to move on further south, and they would probably have disembowelled us or maimed us in some other way, since they can get quite aggressive. Although the seals look docile sprawled out on the ground or on large rocks, they can move surprisingly quickly and we were told never to approach a female seal with young, or to get between a seal and the water, making it feel threatened or trapped. After leaving Ohau Point, the next stop we made was at the small town of Kaikoura, and we parked Bessie in the I-Site (information centre) car park.

The South Island's rugged east coast was a spectacular sight
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There was a pebble beach at Kaikoura and nice views of snow-capped mountains in the distance. The water was a really clear blue and there were seagulls flying all around the place. We wanted to eat lunch at a Thai restaurant in the quaint town before continuing on our way down to Christchurch, but the place was closed; we had flashbacks of trying to find a place to eat in Wellington the day before. Instead of Thai food, we settled on sharing a large plate of fish and chips in a lovely little cafe on the small main street in town. The fish used was blue cod and was really tasty, and to complement the food, we each drank an iced coffee, which was poured over ice cream instead of ice, something typical of iced coffees in many places across New Zealand.

Fur seals and sea lions look very similar, but the difference is in their noses, with fur seals having longer ones than sea lions
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One of the women working in the I-Site gave us information about a TranzAlpine day return train journey that started on the east coast in Christchurch and finished on the west coast in Greymouth, travelling across the Southern Alps via the beautiful Arthur's Pass. We ended up booking a place on the trip for the next day because she was able to give us a discounted rate at over 30% less than we had planned on paying. Happy, we got back onto the small highway and continued driving south to Christchurch, excited to be going on an excursion the next day that would not require us driving the campervan to get somewhere.