New Zealand 2009 - Tales of the Camera Sherpa - Part 10

Woke up today to...:( more rain.

Nonetheless we've decided that we're just heading out and doing our thing. Today's itinerary is going south and east around the coast. We're headed toward a place called Keikora around 130 kilometers away and there's supposed to be great sea coast vistas and scenery.

On the way down it was pretty cold and wet. Not a lot of rain but with the wind it was driven. But we were out there taking pictures with me holding the umbrella to protect the lens, camera, and photographer. As we got about 2/3rds of the way there, rain stopped even if it was still mostly overcast. A slight break in the clouds showed a glimpse of snow covered mountain.

Then we got to a section where we where there was a car park right by the ocean. We got out and went to the nearby rocks for Wife to photo shoot. We weren't really looking when we noticed not 10 to 15 meters from us was an adult male sea lion taking a snooze. With another just around the rock from him. It turned out there was a whole colony there a lot of pups playing around on the rocks and in the water. It was pretty cool.

We stayed there for quite some time until the cold got to us. We went on to Keikora and had lunch. It is known for its crayfish - which is what they call rock lobster. The one we had wasn't that great. Too bad. I also tried whitebait fritter. Whitebait is tiny fish. The fritter turned out to be an omelet! Who would have guessed that? A New Zealander I guess.

By the time we headed back, things were definitely clearing up. There was more blue sky and color. We stopped a number of times and clambered down to the beach for some serious 'art' photo shots. When we got back to Blenheim, we still had time to go to a really nice local garden for more picture taking.

Note on bird songs - Anywhere we've been where there is any kind of woods or trees whatsoever, you find yourself surrounded by singing birds. Maybe it is because it is early spring. A server at one of the wineries we were at yesterday confirmed this as a trait of New Zealand. She had been visiting in Australia a couple of weeks back and had noted when she got back the fullness of the bird songs.

Note on gardens - I love the gardens we've seen at the various towns. So colorful. They have the structured pattern of the French garden but with a softer feel using grass instead of stone paths for the backdrop.