Thursday, January 10, 2013

Ohau Stream Seal Pups - South Island, New Zealand

 As we traveled from Blenheim south to Christchurch we stopped in some amazing places, this being one of them.  With the South Pacific Ocean on one side of the road and rolling hills or forested areas on the other.
The New Zealand Fur Seals are abundant around the Ohau Stream where it flows into the ocean.
The mothers hunt during the day and the pups swim upstream to a beautiful waterfall and play...their 'daycare center'!

 There are some serious rules to follow for obvious reasons!


 We parked and hiked along the stream back into the forest to the waterfall, about a 15 minute wonderful walk.
What a delight to see all these little pups frolicking together!  
There might have been 10-12 of them while we were there.


 We could have watched them all day!





We viewed the adult population when we hiked back out to the road.
The ocean is across the road below a high rocky 
bluff...some of them didn't look like they were hunting to us...they were snoozing on the rocks!


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