November 12th - Day 64 - Drive to Cape Foulwind, Seals, Westport, Okari Cottage

Deb was up early on the 12th for an 8am Zoom interview with an alumni affairs officer for St. Mildreds/Miss Lightbourne's School.  After that, she talked with Anne Wadsworth, whose Mother had just died, and with Zandy Barrett.  By the time these finished, it was time to pack up and get on the road by the check-out time of 10am.  Fortunately, we had tidied up a lot the day before, so that the place would look presentable for the real estate showing.  That made it much easier to get going.  And Munroe has been leaving his heavy bags in the car - taking in only a couple backpacks with the stuff he needs.  So there isn't a great deal of packing that is needed to be ready to roll.

We took the last few photos of the cottage before driving up the coast to Okari.

 Driveway to the cottage

It was a nice day to be driving up the coast - the trip to Okari Cottage, our place in Cape Foulwind took less than an hour.  We drove out to the property, just to see where it was, and then decided to walk out to the Seal Colony which is about a mile and a half away from here, along the coast with miles-long beaches. 

We stopped to see Wall Island - a major (though incredibly small) island for seabird nesting.  I read that of the 360 or so seabirds in the world, about 86 of them nest in New Zealand, and about 30 of them nest only on Wall Island.  The birds seek out environments where introduced predators, like stoats and rats, are not present.

Then we moved on the 10 minutes or so further to see the Seal Colony.  When we got there only one brown seal could be seen, sunning itself and scratching its back on the rocks.  But two more seals, larger and darker, suddenly emerged from the water, and one made a bee-line for the first one we saw.  The black one nudged off the brown one and rapidly took its spot.  We assume the two larger and darker seals were males (the other male disappeared behind a rock) - and that the smaller lighter one was a female.  Anyway, she found herself another sunny rock and stretched out there.  How the drama unfolded.

 Brown seal sunning up high on a rock

2 black seals emerge from the water. One spies the brown seal high above and proceeds to climb up.

Two seals meet on the high rock.

Brown seal makes its way down below among the rocks.  Black seal now "rules the roost" and owns the spot on the high rock. 

 Brown seal resting below 

We saw a few more seals on our way back to the car and drove to nearby Westport for supplies.  Down the long main (unattractive) shopping street there were lots of stores, cafes, etc., but definitely a 'down-market' vibe.  We had fish 'n chips for lunch at a cafe (fish shop with Chinese food!) and ate on a bench under a tree in front of a theatre just up the street. 

We found a second-hand bookstore (actually, the books were a section at the back of a nice gift shop) and Munroe picked up a New Zealand classic ("The Bone People" by Keri Hulme) and a novel set on the Otago peninsula (that we loved while visiting on our honeymoon here in 2006) called The Larnachs by Owen Marshall.  In the first episode of our NS TV show "Seven Periods with Mr. Gormsby," the next teacher, Gormsby - an ex-military politically incorrect substitute teacher, takes over class 5F after the previous teacher flees in terror, He shocks the class by ceremonially tossing a copy of The Bone People' into the trash along with most of the other required readings.  He called them "Maori mumbo jumbo' or something like that!  He then selects Moby Dick as the preferred, best book. Truly an outrageous show.

We purchased some food supplies including John Dory fish, lamb steaks, and salmon for our three dinners at Okari Cottage.  

By then it was time to check in and we were met by our hostess, Jude, as we pulled into the driveway. Our place is just off her drive.  She is a lovely woman, probably about our age, and she gave us a warm welcome.  She mentioned that she had bikes if we wanted to use them and we eagerly accepted that. She has run an ice cream/milkshake/cold drinks concession from a trailer parked at the Seal Colony parking lot.  It would be the only source of refreshment out there so we expect she does a lively business. Jude said that she and a daughter from Christchurch with a 9-month-old granddaughter had just returned from British Columbia where they visited her other daughter.

Our place is absolutely gorgeous.  It is a studio with a small kitchenette (no oven).  Jude had provisions for us in the fridge - bread, butter, milk, jelly, peanut butter, and honey.  In the cupboard, we found a big container of musli.  This was by far the most generous set of supplies we have ever encountered in an Airbnb. 

The studio has beautiful windows on all sides so it is bright and cheery. There is a glorious deck overlooking the ocean, and another one on the side.  Our view to the south is over a pasture - often filled with very curious cows!!  The place is spotless and new (actually it has been open since 2017, but it looks brand new).  We have looked at the guest book - not surprisingly, everyone loves this and Jude also. 

We had dinner and watched another episode of MKR, and one or two episodes of Mr. Gormsby.  While enjoying the shows, nature put on its own by giving us an extraordinarily beautiful sunset. Another glorious place to stay on the amazing South Island!