Seals

I write this from a sun-soaked beach, bathed in the last rays of the day as the sun sinks behind the granite boulders lining the shore.
It has been a good day. We awoke in the benighted campsite at which we stayed last night and were immediately plagued by the sandflies again. After fully taking advantage of the site's superior cooking facilities (more than one cooking ring! Luxury!) we drove away from 4 River Holiday Park, hopefully forever! The drive took us to the West Coast country, an area which got ever more dramtically beautiful the further we went through it. The mountains grew larger, the forests denser and the river we followed was nothing short of immense.
The Buller Gorge and river (the Maori name for which means 'deep and swift') is a granite lined area of curvy boulders, huge swathes of water-cut rock and tumbling waterfalls. The river itself is blue and rapid, with white curlicues all over the surface. We followed this round to the Buller Gorge Swingbridge, the longest in NZ.
Feeling akin to Indiana Jones, we took to the bridge in single file (it was very narrow). Balancing on the thin bits of metal, swaying high over a swishing river and very hard-looking rocks was a great experience, if mildly nervewracking. Once safely over the other side, we embarked upon a track through the rainforest.
This took us along a vaguely well-travelled path lined with boardwalks looking out across the fault line revealed by an old earthquake. We then decided to take another track, leading past open mine shafts and remaining gold claims. This track had probably only been traversed once, in the distant past and was more like an intense trek through the rainforest.
Still, we got to see a fair bit of gold country as it was before the rush caused everything to be cut down and forced to go into regeneration. The West Coast was primarily colonised in the first place due to gold and so it was a glimpse of days gone by.
Just to prove how long it was since someone last took this path, the promised bench at the end of it was nothing more than a rotten plank merging with the forest hillside behind it!
Having safely made it out of the rainforest and ended up, miraculously, where we had parked the car, we had lunch. We also had, (no exageration) 100 flies join us in the car for lunch. So ensued a grimy and horrible massacre, of which neither of us is proud (well, maybe Alex is, a bit. He has a thing against flying bugs.) Anyway, now our car is littered with insect corpses, so we had to have a clean out but somewhere where more wouldn't just come in. We drove on, admiring the beautiful surroundings and crazy roads (cliff hugging road over a raging torrent anyone? Or how about a lofty viaduct soaring over a granite cliff into the mists of the river?)
We stopped to have a brush out and a doze, as the tramping about earlier had tired us out. Then we continued on our way to Westport. This town is another grid system, based on American architecture and generally odd looking due to its mix of styles.
We continued through to the Tauhanga Beach, to go seal watching. There is a rookery (breeding spot) for NZ fur seals here and we came to see them. This section of the drive was stunning and we have both fallen in love with the area. Coastal views accross the sea, out to rugged granite formations in a haze of seaspray and blinding sunshine.
The hills are gentle and low, covered in Herakeke (Maori for flax, which they use for everything) and palm trees. After a brief walk, we came to the viewing platform.
The seals were so gorgeous! The rocks below formed a sort of natural enclosure, with rock pools and little watrefalls over bigger rocks when the tide spilled over. The seals themselves were almost indistinguishable from the rocks, but you can start to pick them out as they move. They were all draped accross the rocks, bathing in the sunshine. Their coats had gleaming highlights where the sun was catching the hairs and they got up every so often and flopped off over the rocks in that unmistakable seal-gait. This time of year, they are mostly weanig off last years pups and giving birth to new ones. There were some tiny seals playing on the rocks. One crept over the rock and looked as if it were worried about the drop to the next rock. In actual fact, it was planning a jump onto its companion!
Since  then we have parked up for the night, by the sea. We had dinner and are just sitting, watching the sun go down now. It is by far the most beautiful place we have yet come across.

Also, in exciting news, today our speedo reached 2000km! We have been travelling for a month now and it just keeps getting better!

Net connection is a bit unreliable, so this is yesterdays post - if we have any net tonight I'll do a post of today - pancake rocks and wekas, anybody?