"Sex on the beach" or "Austria-by-the-sea"

Hello again, we arranged to go out on a boat looking for dolphins. If we found them and they seemed friendly enough, there were seven of us that were suited up to go swimming. The first group we found were Dusty Dolphins and they were feeding. The guide decided to leave them in peace and we set off up the Queen Charlotte Sound. The views were absolutely fantastic.

We got the message that some dolphins had been sighted at the end of the sound and the captain opened up the throttles and off we went. It was quite envigorating seated at the back of the boat at speed.  Normally, I am not a good sailor, but this was great.

We caught up with the dolphins , they were swimming slowly and we went into the water, which was COLD!

 The guide told us to 'make noise- any noise, sing your national anthem to the dolphins!'-  to make them curious and come closer, which of course I did.  It was a strange feeling to have them swim under you, quite close.

After getting back to dry land, we set off for Kaikoura down the coast.
We stopped half way and had a coffee. the setting was picturesque.

We drove a little further and found a wonderful beach, so we just had to stop.

After driving a little further, Angela saw a seal bathing on a rock, so we just had to stop.

Angela went into the bushes for a call of nature and shouted, "Terry, come here quick!"                                  I expected the worst, she had been attacked by a disturbed seal, but no, she had found someones hidden Paua shells. We selected five of the nicer ones and left the others for the next lucky traveller.

Arriving in Kaikoura, we went onto the peninsula and parked at the end.

Along this coast is the resting place for a colony af seals. They must be very used to human visitors as it does not seem to worry them too much that we were there.

We walked along a path that follows the upper edge of the cliffs. Beautiful sights. Half way round, a storm hit us and we turned back.

By the time we got to the start, the rain had passed. We dried out in the sun and then decided to do the walk again. Because we were a little late, we decided to not to carry on to the end, but to go down the cliff path at the half way mark and walk back along the shore. It turned out to be a great decision because we arrived at a large nesting colony and they were "at it".

This was the biggest nesting colony of the red billed gull in New Zealand.

We also walked very carefully past a nesting Black-backed gull on a rock.

Once you see one.... there were lots of them.

There were also some pretty flowers.

and then we came back to the seals.

We enjoyed the walk so much that we did it again the next day. At the start of the walk, the wind was really blowing hard and it was cold but as the day advanced, it became more friendly. This time we carried on to the end and discovered ´Austria-by-the-sea`.

The gulls were enjoying the wind by flying along the cliff edge, giving us some wonderful close ups of them as we rested at a lookout point.

That evening, we parked at a beach to watch the sun go down and we saw some youths preparing something. They told me that they were setting up fireworks as it was bonfire night.  "Remember, remember, the fifth of November"   We stayed until after the firework display, very nice, and then went back to the camp.
Tommorrow is another day in paradise.

More to follow, See ya.