…sun….sea…and the great smell of sealion…..
…(non-tagged female sealion soaking up some rays before going for a feed)…
Tag Archives: sealife
As The Sun Sets On The Record Shop
…sooon……
…..soooooon…..
…soon.
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 An Idyllic Day
Tracks And Sign
…resident large male sealion heading for the dunes…
….black swans could use more roughage….
….have dubbed the above “swan cigars” amid much giggling & pointing at bird poop….sigh.
…(extra post today because I missed yesterday…not busy just a dose of spring man flu…ill enough to forget to eat my lunch…which I didn’t discover till I went to make my lunch this morning only to discover…sandwiches!)….
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.
…(…
…)….
Thar She Blows
…out walking on the Aramoana Mole when we noticed the Monarch (local tourist boat) edging in on something large….
…humpback whales!!!….Mum & calf (not caught on camera) flollopping about at the harbour mouth for a good 6 or seven dives before we abandoned play because of an incoming Southerly front…
…got back to the crib, grabbed a cuppa, wandered out to the beach to see if they were still about and was treated to one or ‘tother slapping their tail on the surface 7 or 8 times then proceeding to flip over and slap the water with both flippers ….(too busy waving my arms about and shouting encouragement to take photos, sorry)…then they proceeded to swim into the harbour channel, which at their closest put them within 30 meters of us, so we followed them on foot as far as the extreme southern end of the Aramoana spit….not far on an incoming tide! ….till we lost sight of them almost opposite the Otakou Marae…
….not many photos, I know, but there was so much running and looking to be done, I couldn’t find the time.
…(yay, whales).
Aramoana
…sand….
…small female sealions…
…bloody great male sealions…
…small birds…
…and two carloads less crap….
Washed
…up???…foot???…seaweed???…WHAT?….
…the Otago harbour sometimes does that annoying answer-to-my-question “magic-8-ball” thing…
…also recently washed up on the beach…
…another female sealion on a break…
…that’s the third in as many months (note the tag on the near side flipper…something not present on the other two)…
…nice to see them using the beach so regularly…
….mmm…sealions…..
Bored with a record shop. 