Sleepy seals - Cape Pallister

While we stayed in Wellington, we decided to do a daytrip to Cape Pallister, home to the largest New Zealand fur seal colony of the North Island.

View from the cape

The drive there took about 2,5 hours, and was really nice. When we were nearly there, we started to watch the sea intensely, hoping for a glimpse of seals.

What a comfortable position...

And suddenly we thought we saw one! We pulled over and indeed... there was one. On closer inspection, we saw several. Just lazing around, perfectly blending with the rocks.

Quite an active pose

We walked towards the sea, about 10meters off the road and there lay another in the grass! So quietly we didn't notice it at first! 

Can you see them all?

We were hoping to see some pups, but we were probably a few weeks too early. We did see some smaller ones though. Two out of the water. One was just hiding with its mum, the other one was trying to annoy all the grown ups. Biting and poking every single on as he passed them. 

What is that biped doing?

Staying a bit longer we saw them interact with each other, the proud male at the largest boulder, the young one playing in the water.

Love the difference between wet and dry

We stayed for about an hour, watching them from different locations. We then drove on to the lighthouse, but decide that we didn't feel like walking the 250steps up. So we didn't.

Nozzling 

We then drove back to Wellington, just in time for the afternoon traffic jams. Always fun. Despite that delay, we were just in time to do the last tour of the Weta workshop, but that's a whole other story! 

For now: I hope you like these pics as much as I do...

Which way is up?