Nu Zilland - Day Ten

We arrived in the beautiful seaide town of Kaikoura under a cloud of confusion that was quickly swept away by a delicious bowl of seafood chowder. In my attempt to include a variety of accommodation styles, I had booked us into an old-fashioned pub hotel located at the pier on the end of the peninsula far from the bustling town centre. Any misgivings about the inconveniences of shared bathroom facilities were immediately allayed by the soothing sounds of the surf pounding the rocks just outside of our balcony, the stunning view of snow-capped mountain peaks across a glorious aquamarine bay, and the presence of a deep claw-footed bathtub.






That afternoon, I set out on a solo adventure to go snorkeling with the resident fur seal colony. I was very glad that Kevin had changed his mind about accompanying me. Not that I didn't want to share the experience with him, but we have both finally gained the wisdom to know that he would not have enjoyed bouncing over 5 meter waves in a small open boat in order to plunge into rough frigid water just to have a large dog peer into his leaky face mask (mustaches and snorkeling don't mix). I, on the other hand, was throughly delighted with the playful mammals as a pair of selas frolicked in a bubbly game of chase in the water beneath me. Our guide instructed us to imitate their behavior when they approached. As one large pup swam by my face and rolled on the surface of the water, I did the same - which certainly got his attention. When I copied his duck dive and dipped below the surface, he was so charmed that he swam right up into my face and smiled his little dog smile beneath his round blue eyes. However, he swam away when I squealed with a childish thrill through my snorkel.