Seals, a Penguin & Blown Away on a Hilltop

November 16^th, 2019

I stopped to check out a lighthouse at Katiki Point.  CamperMate mentioned that there was a chance to see seals, specifically fur seals, and a remote chance of seeing yellow-eyed penguins.  The lighthouse was diminutive but still a lighthouse.  The walk continued down to a few little sandy and rocky bays.  At the first one there was a fur seal splayed out on the sand sleeping.  Okay, already worth the price of admission (which was $0).  Continuing on the next beach was rockier and I saw one, then another, and another.  Eventually I counted 6 or 7.  It was amazing how well they blended into the rocks.  I’ll challenge you to see how many you can see in a pic below.

How many can you see here? (you might have to zoom in with your browser)  Let's just say it's more than 5, but I think less than 7.

Looking at the seagull colony:

A small seagull colony was on the leeward side of the cliff, squawking away.  With the strong winds I was envious watching them soar around effortlessly.  As I started my way back to the carpark, I was passing the last little beach on the way out and noticed half a dozen people with their cameras out and intensely looking down to the far side of the sand.  I figured it was just another seal and they were new arrivals to the point but no, they were checking out a yellow-eyed penguin who was 10-15 meters up from the water.  Awesome!  My first penguin sighting in the wild.  The bird spent the next 5 minutes preening him or herself but eventually started to waddle up a small grassy slope by the beach…super cool to watch.

Preening:

I hopped back into Betty 2.0 and had to stop at the next interestingly named spot on the map: Shag Point.  Turns out that the “shag” in question here isn’t what I was thinking, it’s a general term for medium to large diving birds like cormorants.  Well it turned out that Shag Point was a bust in more than one way in that there was but one fur seal hanging out on the rocks…time to move on.

Approaching a small town named Palmerston, I noticed a conical shaped hill with some kind of statue or cairn at the peak.  At first, I was going to pass right by but on second thought I figured it would be a good little workout and I’m sure the view was going to be rewarding.  And indeed, it was.  It was a pretty no nonsense straight up path to the top, especially the last section but luckily I had read on CamperMate that there were two paths and the other one consisted of switchbacks on the other side.  I figured I’d do the “stairmaster” up take the gentler slope back down.  It only took about 25 minutes to reach the summit and the vista was stunning.  The 30-40 foot high monument had a little gate at the entry way and I hopped over that and climbed the combination of stairs and a couple of ladders to pop out the top and have the primo view…but damn it was windy.  I climbed back down and sat on the leeward side of the cairn and ate my sandwich while soaking in the view.  The hike down was pretty easy and I hopped back into Betty 2.0 to see what was next on this awesome day of adventure.

The steep climb up:

Gorgeous vistas

The cairn at the top that you could climb up inside to the top.

It was beautiful in every direction.

I didn't get a new hairdo...that's just how windy it is.

Looking down from inside the cairn.

I stopped at another random seaside spot and went for a short walk.

They called these blowholes...I think it's more just a hole as I was expecting water shooting out of it as waves came in.

Next was the small city of Dunedin.  It started to rain as I descended a steep hill into town.  I stopped at a view shops for supplies and head south out of the city to a freedom camping spot…then the heavens really opened up but I was snug as a bug in my van.  What a day.