Beach Master

We started off our day by driving down to Owaka, where we had a cup of coffee. The weather was a little overcast but seemed to be brightening up. We carried on to Surat Bay to see if we could see the Sea lions that live there. I could see from the car park that there was a large dark animal on the point with quite a few people around. As I watched it slipped off the sand and into the water. We walked along the beach, more in hope than expectation, and as we got closer we saw that there was a large female at the back of the beach with people getting far too close for their safety. We walked on although I took a couple of shots when I was far enough away to not to be concerned. There were several sea lions in the water fishing or playing, I couldn’t be sure so we walked on around the headland for a while enjoying the fresh breeze.
 
As we returned, a large sea lion was just hauling itself out and went over the beach towards the female. Some Chinese tourists started shouting and following him, much too close and we tried to make them understand the risks. At this time another sea lion, a young female, also came ashore following the male and was chased off by the male and the older female. Another young male came ashore and there was a lot of posturing and facing off between them. The older male soon put the younger one in his place and peace was established. We headed up into the dunes, not wanting to cross between the animals and the water and found the path to return to our car. It was certainly an interesting spectacle but I’m always amazed that people risk their safety by not give these large animals the respect they deserve.
 
We stopped and walked to the waterfalls at Purakanui after lunch. It’s a very pretty falls in the way it spills over three levels, broadening as it comes down. We also walked to Matai falls a little further up the road. Not so spectacular in my opinion although the Horseshoe Falls, the upper part, looks quite dainty.  It might fill out with a bit more water but yesterday’s rain must have done it some good.
 
A good day for waterfalls then because this evening we had dinner at ‘Niagara Falls Café’. As far as I can tell these falls were named as a joke because they’re not very big. The café did us a good meal though. Afterwards we drove up to Curio Bay to see if we could see the Yellow Eyed Penguins but they’re usually seen at dusk and we were a bit too early. There was quite a chilly breeze blowing in so we didn’t stay.
 
My thanks to OldTimer for her tips on The Catlins. On to Dunedin tomorrow.
 
   
David


I've put some waterfall pics and more sealions here.