The Real Seal Deal

Last weekend, Andy and I decided to venture out to the south coast of Wellington. As long as the southerlies aren’t blowing in across the Cook Strait, it’s a great spot for a walk. There’s a road along the coast for 4WD vehicles and the beach goes on for miles and miles. We parked and headed towards Wellington’s Red Rocks (they don’t compare to the ones in Colorado, but are still very cool). There’s also a seal colony in the winter months, which I had missed when I went to this spot earlier in the year. You can see the mountains of the South Island on a clear day, and we got a great view of the snow-covered Kaikoura Ranges.

Even the view from the parking lot was impressive.

Higgs immediately ran for the water.

Some of the cliffs along the beach have been quarried and are quite the impressive sight.

It was still a tad bit windy, but nothing a Wellingtonian can’t handle.

Driftwood – my favorite!

Higgs is also a fan of driftwood, but he bit off a bit more than he could chew with this one…

Finally, a more appropriately sized stick!.

We couldn’t have asked for a better day.

We made it to the Red Rocks, and you can easily see where they got their name.

Andy’s coat matched perfectly.

We wandered around a bit and I found some sea glass, which never fails to make my day. Andy spotted a starfish in the shallow water, and we came across more interesting rocks.

While checking this spot out, Higgs made friends with a beautiful Husky. I wonder if he had long-leg envy.

They had a great time chasing each other around until the Husky’s owner had to break out the leash to continue on her way.

Only later did I find out that this dog has its own Instagram account, “The Wolf of Wellington,” with over 3,000 followers. So Higgs has a celebridog friend.

We decided to continue on a bit to the Devil’s Gate (a giant cleft in the coastal rocks) in the hopes of coming across the seal colony.

I love this little spot by the sea.

Pretty soon, we smelled and saw the seals. Mostly males hang out here to bulk up before mating season. They seemed a bit annoyed with being woken up, and I’m sure they were wondering what the weird stumpy canine was. We put Higgs on a leash so he couldn’t get too close. I know who would win that battle.

This next one was too cute for words.

Not a bad pillow if you’re a seal, I suppose.

I’m glad I brought my telephoto lens for this.

So cute!

And next, Triangle Seal.

We made our way up to Devil’s Gate after I got my fill of seal shots.

On the other side, there were hundreds of seals lounging on the rocks like a bunch of giant slugs. The sickening smell was enough to ensure our visit was quite short.

We passed back through the Devil’s Gate just in time to miss all the 4WD vehicles that were gathering nearby to take the insanely bumpy road through the rocks.

As we walked back, the sky got increasingly cloudy, but we got lucky and the rain didn’t hit until we had reached the car.

One last shot of Higgs and a Westie friend he made, dedicated to my mom, in honor of sweet Barney.

In all, we walked around 9 kilometers (5 1/2 miles). It was a great way to spend the morning, and Higgs was done in for the rest of the day. Ok, Andy and I were too.

I love this city!