Seals, Seals, and More Seals

So far we have been in New Zealand for 6 days.  4 of those days we saw seals.  Seals on the east coast, on the north coast, on the west coast, and in the sea.  Many times you can smell them before you can see them…stinky!  It a good time of the year for seal watching since there are many pups.  Here is one of the cuter sets of pups that we saw near Taranga Bay at Cape Foulwind.

We saw seals fighting/playing with each other and seals sparring with birds as well. 

Of course much of the time they just enjoyed sleeping.

The singing was the best…

There She Blows!…I mean…There He Blows!

After a restful nights sleep and a little souvenir shopping in Kairoura we went on a whale watch tour.  The weather was not as cooperative as we would have liked but the rain held off & the seas, so we were told, were relatively calm.  I was curious how Jade would do on  the boat as the other 3 kids are seasoned boaters.  The sign at the desk said for the earlier tours, “Seasickness Alert”.  Great!!!  Combined with some herbal seasickness tablets and calmer seas than expected, we had no problems in this area…whew!   Overall Jade ended up loving the boat & we were fortunate to see two sperms whales, hundreds of dolphins, and a few seals.  The sperm whales were impressive and the guide was sure to tell us that only the males swim this far south due to the cooler water.    How amazing to be so close to such a large animal.  The guide was very informative & we all learned a ton about whales!  After watching each whale take its last breath before heading deep down into the water, we got to see the classic tail shot seen in so many pictures.  Here is one of our own from the first sperm whale…

Whale #2

Between whale sightings, we got to see lots of dolphins.  They were so playful!  They were swimming all around the boat & doing an acrobatic show for us.  Almost like they were trying out for Sea World.  They loved to race the boat and often were just a few feet away from our spot near the bow of the boat.  Even though everyone goes on the tour for the whales, the kid’s favorite part were the dolphins.    We finished the day off with some great fish and chips at the local hangout, a walk along the beach, a spectacular New Zealand sunset, and feeding a hungry family of ducks at our campsite.

Holidays in New Zealand

For the third year in a row, we are spending the holidays away in a very non-traditional way. However this time we will get to see some snow, maybe even touch it, to make for a “white” Christmas. For what is most likely our last winter living outside the US, we decided to give New Zealand a try. As of this note, we have three days under our belts…finally finding a little time to blog…and so far we are far from disappointed. We arrived on Sunday morning in Christchurch, after connecting through Auckland on an 11 hour flight from Shanghai. Weather was low seventies and lightly raining. Not a good start weather wise, but as we have found out weather changes often and quickly, this time for the better. We have rented a campervan (for 6 of us!! – crazy) and Ron has finally gotten used to driving on the wrong side of the road. Not to say he hasn’t driven on the right side a couple of times…wrongly…and took awhile to get used to shifting with his left hand. Here are a couple quick pics from the first day near Kaikoura…hopefully we will find more time to get some blogs out soon.