Red Rocks

I am sunburnt! After all these weeks of rain the sun came out and I got sunburnt! We went for a walk round to visit the seals at Red Rocks in Wellington. It seemed like a very long walk, it even looked like a very long walk, yet there were families with young children doing it, there were old ladies on quad bikes doing it, 4x4 cars and trucks were doing it, push bikes and motorbikes were doing it. Everyone was going round to see the seals. Well almost everyone - some of the locals were only out there to go fishing.

We found the seals a bit before where we expected them to be, and I was surprised at just how close some people were getting to them. This area is where the male seals spend their winter and this means they are mostly very big and very grumpy. I decided to keep a healthy distance from them - a few metres at the very least! The seals were very well hidden, their colouring being very similar to the rocks. I found it very easy to spot them though, simply by watching where all the other people were looking.

After spending a bit of time with the seals, it was time to make the trek back to the car. Why is it that it always seems that much further going back. By this time my back was really starting to hurt and I was pretty much just putting one foot after the other hoping to make it back to the carpark. A little way down the track we came across three 4x4 vehicles that had stopped, their drivers chatting to each other. I plucked up some courage and asked one of them if he was taking passengers. To my surprise and utter delight he said he would give us a ride if we wanted one. The ride back... is a story for tomorrow!