On To Kaikaoura, With Surrealistic Seals On The Way

After Nelson we proceeded on, skirting Picton, driving past pretty Pelorus Bridge, and on through Blenheim--memories of Cloudy Bay, the Omaka Aviation Heritage Museum and Sir Peter Jackson's "Knights of the Sky"--and continued on to Lake Elterwater, where we stopped for the night at a freedom camp (with too much road noise). Next day we continued our drive onto the east coast toward Kaikoura and our date with the dusky dolphins there. The scenery, flora and fauna and geology, immediately improved when we gained the coast.

Sculpture illustrating the Maori name for the cove

It had poured the night before, and streams and
waterfalls were gushing

Note vertical lay of the strata...NZ is of never-ending geological
interest

A muddy stream gushes to the Pacific

Escargot...were deliberately introduced here by the
1759 French expedition led by Gaspard de la Merde

A few miles down the road at Ohau we encountered the first of
several seal colonies near Kaikoura

Obviously a fan of Dali

Hundreds of them...moms and pups, bulls, steers, whatever

The scene

More Dali; Surrsealism?

Turning now to botanical matters, we encounter
the Ohau rock daisy, a species known to exist only
in this one place 

Thus; when are taxonomists going to learn that every
individual is a species? See John Dupre, The Disorder 
of Things: The Metaphysical Foundations of the Disunity
of Science, 1993; the last philosophy text I ever taught...

Elsewhere in this blog we have discussed Gabion baskets and their
building; one of the marvels of 19th century civil engineering; here
is one of the larger ones we've seen, shielding the road in this very
earthquake-prone region

Nelson, 2023

Nelson, on Tasman Bay, at the north end of the South Island, is one of New Zealand's prettier towns. Also its sunniest, FWIW. As the gateway to Abel Tasman, it gets plenty of tourists, and it's little more than an hour from Picton and the ferry (if any). For as long as we've been visiting, it's also a very RV-friendly town, with numerous free or low-cost camper parking spaces all over town. We generally have timed our visits for the Saturday and Sunday markets, which mostly feature local arts and crafts. The previous week, just arriving from Wellington, we stayed Saturday night and caught the Sunday flea market. After doing the AT, the Grove, and Wharariki, we stayed Friday night and did the Saturday market.

Previous years' posts have featured Nelson's abundant art deco,
here, its cinema (still a cinema, too)

Three of these large carparks, right downtown;
one features the world-famous Solar Superloo

Walking through ANZAC park 

Willie Nelson?

Christopher Finleyson's Aotearoa (The Land of the
Long White Cloud), 1984, on the side of Nelson's
Power House (old electricity generating plant) 

Entering Nahm, a Thai/Asian fusion bistro, recommended
by Rebecca

Our balcony table afforded views of the harbor's educational and
recreational activities; here, the 8-10  year-old sailing class is towed in

A young woman deftly launches and rights her wingfoil

And flies to the outer harbor; damn, she was good!

The 12-14 year-olds class arrives

Our food also arrives...chicken satay

A riff on Peking duck

Tom yum

Char sui BBQ pork ribs, five spice seasoning; great recommendation,
Rebecca!

1946 Nelson Ladies Rugby Union Club, the "All Hats"; wait, no...

At the Saturday market: "flat food"; even on the wrong side of the 

world, Vicki always goes for a lemon crepe

Saturday market scene

Stimulating the local economy: a greenstone worry pendant; actually
we stimulated the high street outdoor stores even more, several of whom
were having 50% off sales

Wharariki Beach, 2023

It's one of New Zealand's iconic scenes, enormous sea stacks just off shore, caves, arches, pools, seals, seascapes, and all the rest. We visited in 2014, but wanted to do it again. Low-tide was at 6:17PM, which, together with changing weather, made for a short visit. But we did it, arriving at Puponga around 5:30 and getting suited-up and on the trail shortly thereafter.

Iconic especially if you use this Windows wallpaper; we do

Access is via the Puponga Farm, guarded by numerous sheep and
cattle (not pictured)

When we were there in 2014, there was a gale blowing in from Cook
Strait, and we were sand-blasted for 20 minutes crossing the dunes;
so this year we donned our rain-suits; of course, the dunes and beach
turned out to be relatively calm this day

Crossing the dunes

Now, we have uncharacteristically divided forces, I exploring
a nearer, larger cave, Vicki exploring on the other side of the stack

I encountered this yearling seal, and, from a respectful distance,
video'd his long walk down to the sea; to be posted on my YouTube
channel some day

Vicki exploring a big spooky cave on the other side

Ceiling

More spooky caves, some too wet for us to explore

The surf, in the 10-15 foot range, not that far
away

Ever more caves

Looking back at the dunes

Fearless low-tide marine spelunker

We are at the south end of the beach, now walking north toward
the big stacks (or maybe it was north walking south...); note gathering
storm

For the couple hours we were on the sizeable beach we saw only two
other parties

Looking back to the area we have come from

Mr./Ms. Seal continues his/her walk

The scene begins to unfold

The great arches appear

Iconic even as the storm approaches

I'm going to make this my new wallpaper

We viewed a few more caves

And arches

And caves

And then headed back to the holiday park...one of NZ's more remote

ones, but welcome nonetheless