Day 4- Catlins Part 1

The morning of day 4 we were looking forward to walking the beaches nearby.  The woman at the Holiday Park front desk showed us how it was connected to the hike we wanted to do, so that was rather convenient.  We wanted to walk beaches of Surat Bay (named after a ship wrecked off the coast) and Cannibal Bay (after a surveyor found human remains there, not cannibal related).  We were hoping to see sea lions and we were rewarded multiple times over for our efforts.

The sea lions camouflaged in pretty well with the debris washed up on shore, so sometimes we were on top of them before we noticed.

This guy had places to be.  He would walk a couple meters, then flop down in a very exaggerated manner for a minute or two before starting the process again.  He was hilarious to watch.

Walk, walk, walk...

...flop.

This guy was HUGE.

 We were able to capture the sea lions running around.  I think two males started to run at each other but then the smaller one veered away.

After our Surat Bay walk we had to cross over a peninsula to get to Cannibal Bay.  It was a lovely peninsula of sand and yellow flowers.  On the way back we decided to hike up to the peak of the peninsula.  Those pictures come later.

Cannibal Bay

On the way back to Surat Bay we encountered some locals coming back from the peninsula.  We hadn't originally planned to go up there since it was fenced off and there weren't any paths, but the locals said that the view was worth it and the farmer who owned the property didn't care.  There was an electric fence around the property but they assured us it wasn't active.  After we parted ways we considered the chances they were having fun with us and thought we could use a little electric jolt, but we took our chances and turned out it wasn't turned on.  Lucky us.  Up the peninsula we went, which provided some fantastic views and a cove with lovely rock formations.

 Upon our return from the peninsula we discovered the sea lions had decided to relocate...right where the path spits out onto the beach.  Good thing we didn't leave our shoes there like originally discussed or we may have had to tug them out from under from rather large behinds.

In total I think we saw about a dozen sea lions, which made me pretty darn happy!  Now if only James had been awake for any of it...