Van Tour – The maiden voyage – Day 1- Sea, seals and penguins

2 May 2018. Waikouaiti to vicinity Waimate.

Today was the maiden voyage of my campervan. While it is not finished all the major systems are done and it is mainly cosmetic work and some storage work still required. I left after lunch and stopped in Palmerston Café for lunch before heading for my first destination of Shag Point.

After turning off SH1 (State Highway 1 which is the main road travelling the length of New Zealand) I had to stop as the sharp corner on the steeply angled road caused my freezer door to come open. Luckily I had put my stuff in the door pocket and the rest was empty so no clean-up required. After some duct tape as a temporary measure I was off again. The narrow road went through the cute beach town of Shag Point. Cribs (Batch for NZ North Islanders or Holiday Home for others) of all sizes on the cliff above the sea. Once through the little town it was only a couple of minutes to the first carpark. I carried on past on an even narrower dirt road to the end of the road where I had the place to myself. After some van photos (still looks great!) I followed the short 100m walkway took me to the viewing point but there was nothing there. I wandered along the top of the cliff looking at the interesting rock formations and enjoying the smell of the sea.

Back to the van to the first carpark. The track to the viewing platform came complete with warning signs to watch out for holes as there was mining in this area in the past. To the right of the walkway was an abandoned boat house in a protected inlet and here is where the first of the seals were lying.

Initially I only saw one New Zealand Fur Seal but when I looked closely there were heaps of them. There was also a Shag which was to be expected at a place called Shag Point.

Just before leaving I grabbed something from the back of the van and there was a strange noise when I closed the van but I didn’t think anything of it. I also christened my toilet here – this day is full of firsts.

 

Next destination was Katiki Lighthouse. I drove back onto SH1 to Moeraki and then onto a deeply gravelled road that I took it very slow on. The scenery was lovely with rolling hills and the ocean to distract me. I was surprised to come to a large carpark as for some reason I thought this was an out of the way destination. Two cars were parked in the middle for some reason but I backed into a park on the edge. Now the effect of that earlier strange noise was realised. The door would not open but was not properly closed meaning everytime I lock the car my horn beeps to tell me a door is still open. This is a little annoying, especially as it is a nice loud horn. Tomorrow I will have to have a good look at it.

 

The path was well formed going past toilets and through nice bush and shrubs with pretty flowers. After about 100m the track emerged from the bush and I arrived at the lighthouse. It is behind a high fence but nice to look at. After a series of accidents the Katiki Lighthouse was built in 1878 which is ancient in New Zealand terms. In 1975 the last lightkeeper left as the Lighthouse was automated and now is runs on a 1000W LED from mains power with a generator backup.

The track kept going down the hill past the lighthouse which electric fences well marked either side of the track. At the bottom there was one small climb and then onto a small peninsular. There was a large seal next to track which I gave a wide berth.

At the very end was a small island accessible in low tide, which unfortunately was 6 hours away. I wandered along the edges of the little peninsular, occasionally being surprised by sleeping seals, one of which was very grumpy and growled at me as I backed away. On the Eastern side the sea was very rough and there were several seals on the rocky beach.

On the Western side the sea was sheltered and I watched a couple of seals swimming. They seemed to like doing rolls and spent a bit of time upside down with their tails in the air. The tails were not showing as they were diving like with whales but they spent 10-25 seconds like that.

The only other people there was a couple who let me know there was a penguin on a track I had not been on yet so I headed there. About 10 meters below the track was a yellow eyed penguin. I watched it for a while as it groomed itself after the day in the ocean. The feet were pink and seemed big in proportion to the body. As the name suggests the eyes were yellow. I then headed back up the hill to my van and away.

My next destination was to take a road paralleling SH1 north along the coast, with a quick detour to Hampden Beach.

 

I had no specific destination but it was very pretty. The beaches were a mixture of dark gold sand, stones and rock. I turned off to drive through the little town of Kakanui planning to do a walk but then changed my mind and headed to Oamaru. I was heading to the Little Blue Penguin site but saw a sign for Yellow Eyed Penguins and followed this to the end of a road and along a well developed path to a viewpoint and a hut with good information about the Penguin lifecycle and daily routine. Some German tourists there said they had been coming every evening for three days and had not seen a penguin yet. The timing was perfect to see them with about an hour before it got dark and we talked while we waited. After 15 minutes I started heading back to the van when they called out that there was a penguin. It was a long way off and hard to see. Then no more for ages and I left, having already seen plenty of penguins coming home from the ocean in a tour of the Catlins in the South East of the South Island a few years ago.

I headed for the little Blue Penguin site, stopping at the sigh of a wharf totally covered in birds. There was no entry onto the wharf and it was too dark for my camera to zoom so I am not sure what type of bird they were. It was a large wharf so there must have been several hundred birds.

Unfortunately the Little Blue Penguin viewing was booked out so I headed to the supermarket to buy some things to fill my big new fridge and the cupboards – if I had finished building them. For now I have things in the wardrobe and in a box on the floor. When packing this morning I was not very organised so need to sort things into the right boxes and figure out where I want everything to go. I am surprised by how much storage space I actually have considering I have filled this little van with a shower and normal house sized fridge freezer. Later I will do a video of a van tour to show this.

After shopping and a quick stop at subway I headed to my night spot at Waihou Box. In the morning I will explore but for tonight I am the only one hear and enjoying the background noise of the waves crashing onto the beach. Surprisingly I am comfortably warm as I type this and have not needed the heater yet.

 

 

 

 

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