Crossing

At 7:30am we did the island crossing and on the Cook Strait the sea was a bit rough. The wind was so strong we pulled ourselves in front of the deck but after almost 2 hours the Marlborough Sounds calmed wind and sea. We enjoyed the spectacular view and three little penguins swimming next to the ferry, greeted us.

In Picton we drove to the visitor center to book our whale watching trip in Kaikoura. Following the east coast southwards we found some fur seal colonies. By foot we followed a river and after about 10 minutes walk we found a waterfall with a little pool full with seal puppies playing around.

They were pretty curious and got so close we backed off a bit. In wintertime there can be hundreds of seal puppies in this river since it is a perfect shelter.

We found a nice campground for free and took in the beautiful scene with the white mountain caps. There seem to be more free campgrounds than on the north island. Let’s enjoy the first night on the south island and dream from whales.