A three day visit to Kaikoura allowed us to explore a couple of coastal walks. This first was along the shoreline at Oaro.
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The striking features on this walk are the railway line and the contrast between the limestone under the basalt-based sand. The result are these amazing contrasts between the white limestone and the black sand. This looked for all the world like a patch of melting snow, but is in fact the limestone outcrop covered with black sand.
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Here the contrast is a little more obvious with the basalt stones alongside the limestone.
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The other feature is an old train wreck from decades ago that was left on site and not taken away.
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Some of the old train carriages were metal and some still had the wooden frame still in evidence.
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The coastal trail took us along the shoreline to this vantage point where we could look further south of Oaro. In the two short hours it went from overcast (see first photo above) to this beautiful clear blue sky.
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This was an amazing slice of the limestone that is now nearly at a 90 degree angle from when it was laid down.
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At the end of the afternoon we reached Kaikoura and went out to the seal colony just in time to find a few seals coming up out of the surf to have a snooze on the beach. This one crawled a little further up the beach to this grassy patch for a nice soft place on which to snooze.
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Philip taking a few snaps of snoozing seals.
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I captioned this one: "Hi from New Zealand"
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Also appearing on the beach was this white-faced heron who came there for the fishing.
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Seal gulls. (not a typo, just missing the punctuation).
Seal, gulls.
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Early the next morning at the seal colony and this one is out looking for a place to warm itself in the sunshine. Perhaps on a park bench?
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The New Zealand Woodland Fur Seal.
No not really. This one was looking for a nice safe and soft space where it could have a snooze. It just looked very incongruous snoozing in the woods.
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On our second day of tramping we walked out to Point Kean at Kaikoura. The low tide worked in our favour and we walked out along the cliff trail and returned via the beach trail. The limestone is much more evident here and there is very little of the basalt.
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There were more seals out here sunning themselves or snoozing but being further away from the village they were much more shy and wary of people so scampered (as much as a seal can scamper - but they do it at amazing speed) away when we got within 70 meters of them.
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We've climbed down from the cliff top behind me and out onto this limestone promontory that sticks up out of the surrounding level area around it where sea birds nest in the summer.
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(okay, that's embarrassing, I just went to the website to confirm the name of Point Kean and discovered a tramping brochure that says, please don't climb this feature to prevent further erosion - in our defense there is no sign on the beach at the foot of this "sugar loaf" telling visitors to stay off. )
Further along the beach we saw more of these amazing limestone formations.
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A Pied Shag drying off its wings in the sunshine.
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Third day, not so nice. It poured with rain, so we explored a second-hand book store, the local museum, and went to see if seals go and lie on the beach even when it's raining. They do.
The striking features on this walk are the railway line and the contrast between the limestone under the basalt-based sand. The result are these amazing contrasts between the white limestone and the black sand. This looked for all the world like a patch of melting snow, but is in fact the limestone outcrop covered with black sand.
Here the contrast is a little more obvious with the basalt stones alongside the limestone.
The other feature is an old train wreck from decades ago that was left on site and not taken away.
Some of the old train carriages were metal and some still had the wooden frame still in evidence.
The coastal trail took us along the shoreline to this vantage point where we could look further south of Oaro. In the two short hours it went from overcast (see first photo above) to this beautiful clear blue sky.
This was an amazing slice of the limestone that is now nearly at a 90 degree angle from when it was laid down.
At the end of the afternoon we reached Kaikoura and went out to the seal colony just in time to find a few seals coming up out of the surf to have a snooze on the beach. This one crawled a little further up the beach to this grassy patch for a nice soft place on which to snooze.
Philip taking a few snaps of snoozing seals.
I captioned this one: "Hi from New Zealand"
Also appearing on the beach was this white-faced heron who came there for the fishing.
Seal gulls. (not a typo, just missing the punctuation).
Seal, gulls.
Early the next morning at the seal colony and this one is out looking for a place to warm itself in the sunshine. Perhaps on a park bench?
The New Zealand Woodland Fur Seal.
No not really. This one was looking for a nice safe and soft space where it could have a snooze. It just looked very incongruous snoozing in the woods.
On our second day of tramping we walked out to Point Kean at Kaikoura. The low tide worked in our favour and we walked out along the cliff trail and returned via the beach trail. The limestone is much more evident here and there is very little of the basalt.
There were more seals out here sunning themselves or snoozing but being further away from the village they were much more shy and wary of people so scampered (as much as a seal can scamper - but they do it at amazing speed) away when we got within 70 meters of them.
We've climbed down from the cliff top behind me and out onto this limestone promontory that sticks up out of the surrounding level area around it where sea birds nest in the summer.
(okay, that's embarrassing, I just went to the website to confirm the name of Point Kean and discovered a tramping brochure that says, please don't climb this feature to prevent further erosion - in our defense there is no sign on the beach at the foot of this "sugar loaf" telling visitors to stay off. )
Further along the beach we saw more of these amazing limestone formations.
A Pied Shag drying off its wings in the sunshine.
Third day, not so nice. It poured with rain, so we explored a second-hand book store, the local museum, and went to see if seals go and lie on the beach even when it's raining. They do.