More Seals

Ok - I couldn't resist showing you just a few more photos of these amazing wild seals. After the images I took in the last blogpost, we climbed back in the car and we stopped at another place a bit further down the road where there was a viewing platform. Here we could see yong seals as well, and not just the big male ones.



This one is quite a bit smaller than the others so it's either an older pup, or a female. Note that the sea was really choppy, but the seas along the coast are often big.



They were everywhere - lying in the sun on the rocks, on the beach, and even in the grass.



Back in the car we went further along the road, through Kaikoura and about 2 or 3 kilometres south of the town, so Carol can show us the gorgeous vistas just south of Kaikoura. She pulled into a carpark but we couldn't park the car due to this..



Of course I jumped out of the landrover sans crutches to take more photos. This one was amazing - didn't even complain if I got too close, so I got closer...



I changed to my Macro lens and got closer..



And Closer...



Carol, Nikki and Alexandra were in the car waiting for the seal to rear up and fwap me one, injurying me further. Nikki even got out to take a photo of me taking a photo of the seal to show how close I was...



But after that photo I got even closer...



and closer still...



I was so close I could have stroked him/her and I was simply amazed tha he/she let me get so close to him/her. However, I knew it was a wild animal, and that he/she had teeth and could inflict a nasty bite - so I resisted the urge to reach out and stroke that lovely fur. I was very very happy with the photographic opportunity and I must say he/she was a most obliging model. Better than some humans even!!!