Today was a gold star day.. Forgive the creepy Notes on a Scandal reference. But truly, it was.
We began with a trip to Wharariki Beach famous for its dramatic low-tide scenery, but even more famous for its seal colony. Basically every summer day all the mama seals drop their pups off at a “seal daycare” in a few shallow pools on the beach.. And then they go get loaded and look for mates. No I’m jk, I’m sure they have very respectable day jobs. Anyways, we walk up to a little beach swimming pool full of toddler seal pups playing with each other. Swimming about, splashing, jumping, chasing a seagull feather as if it were a tennis ball… All right in front of us! Courtney and I looked at each other with similar expressions of OMG this is not real life and proceeded to find a place near the pool where we would stay for the next hour and a half. We learned that seal pups are basically the exact same as dogs. There were a few that were completely obsessed with this large feather.. They were swimming around it and playing with it like dogs with a tennis ball. And there was one baby seal that I just really bonded with; I would put my foot in the water and he would come up and touch it with his nose/whiskers and swim away.. Only to come back 10 seconds later to do the same. It was too much for my heart. He was playing tag with me. It was amazing that they were so unafraid of humans and their mothers so trusting to leave them there with us. Reluctantly, we had to leave to get on with our day. It was only when I was walking away through the perfectly carved white sand dunes that I looked back and really looked at my surroundings (I was kind of in a baby seal trance the whole time) and realized Whararika was truly one of the most beautiful beaches I have ever seen. Next time we’ll really have to do some exploring.
Next we headed east to the Abel Tasman National Park to check out Rawhiti Cave. Scott Cook, our friendly guide book author said it was a “difficult 45 minutes” hike.. We have found from experience that he does not exaggerate when he uses the word “difficult.” And just as promised, this shit was DIFFICULT. We hiked straight up a mountain, or zig-zagged up a mountain rather. A very hot, humid rainforest mountain I might add.. But once we came to the cave’s entrance, we sighed with relief because of course it was so so so worth the hike. Everything in New Zealand is worth the hike. Rawhiti Cave looked like some other-worldly landscape. Thousands of spiraling meter-long, stalactites jutted down from the overhanging ceiling cave, while simultaneously a thousand stalagmites protruded out of the cave’s floor. The place gave me the absolute creeps. To make it worse the stalactites were dripping water.. It felt like thousands of sharp icicles melting in the sun.. Just waiting to slip off the roof and kill you. I made Courtney only speak in whispers because I didn’t want to disturb the cave’s fragile nature.. She slipped in a few loud “ECHO”s just to disturb me.
We were pretty tired after our two adventures.. But we had one more easy walk in Abel Tasman to attempt.. A short loop through a densely canopied rainforest and limestone jungle called The Grove. I found a particularly thick and sturdy vine coming down from a tree.. It was just begging for a quick swing. So I made like lady-Tarzan and swung from tree to tree on it. As a side note- from an early age I have been climbing, swinging, and jumping out of trees whenever I can.. It’s just something I do. So I’m sure I made it look easy. So easy that Courtney thought she’d give it a go O_o she made it about 1.5 seconds on that vine and then BAM. George of the Jungle-d it into a tree. It was really, a highlight of the day. I’m giggling just thinking about it.
AND THEN, as if this day couldn’t get any better.. We retired for the night in our luxury chalet with its own bathroom, kitchen, and tv, on a privately owned herb/produce farm. GOLD STAR DAY.
