Beach Visitor

…sun….sea…and the great smell of sealion…..

…(non-tagged female sealion soaking up some rays before going for a feed)…

Wassat

…in the water there…

….oh…a bloody great leopard seal……never seen one in the water before…let alone on the harbour side of the spit…and I’m sure the bugger was sizing us up as snacks….

….I think I’ll stick to dodging sea lions on the beach….

…female hauled up beyond big male pictured above after lunch…(his flipper in the foreground)….…or viewing fur seals from above…

….mmmm…pinnipeds.

 

…(if we’d seen a sea elephant we’d have the whole set!).

Pinnipedic Extravaganza

…seals at the head of the Aramoana Mole……and at the Northern end of Victory Beach….baby seals left to there own devices whilst their mothers fish……meanwhile back at Aramoana’s Shelley Beach….large male sealion at rest……sea lion pup, Janet, practicing challenge charges in the dunes……whilst mother, Pattie, and another female sealion take a nap……next morning, Pattie & Janet napping on the beach…..…later that same day…Janet most definitely not napping…….and to top the day off…..

….”lunch” with unidentified female sealion….

….I had the Croissant with Camembert.

On The Way Back From Invercargill

…I nipped thru the Catlins…

…Slope Point , southern most tip of the South Island, it’s bloody windy there…

…all the time, judging by the trees….

…Waipapa Point is further back down the coast towards Inver’s & is no less exposed…

…with the added attraction of adjacent pinnipeds…. 

…they’re stacked like cord wood on the beach….…and this one, upwind from the “pile” & myself, definitely smelt the worst…

…mmm…pinnipeds.

 

…(…

https://www.google.co.nz/maps/place/Waipapa+Point+Lighthouse/@-46.6599743,168.8448698,560m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m2!3m1!1s0xa82d41520382fa2b:0xd4a9b2ea37bfc203!6m1!1e1?hl=en

…)….

It Is Written On The Stars

…both sides…

…it’s also in the numbers on the pinnipeds….

….and the way the sand lands…

…we thought we saw the signs… …and now the signs are up!

…(….on a salt marsh, on a harbour mouth far, far away….)….

….(if you have the time, check out….

http://naturewatch.org.nz/projects/aramoana-biodiversity

…mmm…biodiversity!)

Aramoana

…sand….

 

…small female sealions…

 

…bloody great male sealions…

…small birds…

 

…and two carloads less crap….

When Is A Log Not A Log

 

…when it’s a female sea lion of course…

 

…careful where you tread.

 

…(much larger than the last lass to drop by near my good friend Dee’s place…but no less stinky!…mmmm…nothing beats the great smell of sea-lion in the morning….).

Sealions

…this big lad at the pilot’s wharf on the Aramoana spit…

..and this “lovely” female in my good friend Dee’s Roses…

…(top left, below the purple flowers)….

….(outside toilet left in shot for scale)….

…awwww….she’s sleeping…

…no she’s not…

…crap…flight or photo…

 

…the thing with female sealions is that, unlike the males who will challenge, charge,  then stand their ground, the females will follow you for some distance….

 

…like, right to the back door….

…maybe we’ll hold off admiring the roses till next week.

Camouflage On The Beach

…last weekend was a bumper critter-watch weekend…

…as if seeing that huge pod of dolphins (& not seeing a whale) wasn’t enough…

…My good friend Dee and I had the pleasure of meeting this lovely lass…

…pretty sure she’s a sea lion but we’ve, neither of us, seen one this white before…

…absolutely gorgeous…

…but a little blurry ‘cos I don’t think she’s had much to do with humans and was very fidgety, even with us keeping to a very polite distance, so I was taking more notice of my escape route than keeping an eye on focus!!…

…those be pointy teeth!

…she was gone in a fairly short amount of time, again the lack of human “contact” may have been a major factor…and being Easter there was a lot more folk about than her beach-stay guide book may have indicated.

Sealed with a Snoz

…. I go out to Aramoana (google maps, boys and girls, go have a look) every Monday (my only day off) to visit my dear friend Dee…. she likes sand in everything, the pleasures of out-door toilets and the like….. we go walking on the beach in all weathers… it is as far from a record store as you could possibly be without being on Mars… and being Monday we practically have the place to ourselves…

Dee has names for most , if not all, of the resident sea mammals… of which there is a plethora….

… you can tell the different types (but not their names) by the shape of their noses….here are some examples….

A. Sea lion

B. SealC. Fur seal

I find it helpful to be able to identify what is chasing me down the beach because I got too close whilst taking photos, you may find it helpful too.