Sunshine and seals.

August 10

Despite some heavy storms that made their way through during the night, Sunday dawned bright and beautiful. A crisp wind blew constantly through the city, but I couldn’t really pay it much attention with such a blue sky overhead.

The girls and I had talked about using Sunday to go hiking if the weather cooperated. We had been wanting to catch a bus down to Island Bay and do a hike out to a fur seal colony. The weather was clearly cooperating, but, after our late night, it was up in the air whether we wanted to take advantage of it or not.

Jamie decided to decline, as she still wasn’t feeling 100 percent. Andrea seemed a little iffy, but I decided that I didn’t want to waste a gorgeous day if I could help it. When I put it that way, and since we had to take a bus back to the city anyway and could easily buy a day tripper bus pass, Andrea agreed that a trip out to Island Bay sounded good. We stopped at our flats quickly to drop stuff off, change, and grab a bite to eat, and then it was out to Island Bay.

Island Bay is still technically in Wellington. It’s directly south of the main city, close to the airport. We got dropped off near a park with a big slide, a gazebo, and a jungle gym shaped like a ship, and from there it was only a short walk to the beach.

The beach down at Island Bay is definitely a sight to see, especially under clear skies. Andrea and I stood in the packed sand, watching a few sail boats bobbing along in the blue-green water as the waves crashed in over copper-colored rocks.

Our cameras were constantly at work as we made our way down the beach. We picked our way through seaweed remnants, deep sand and rugged rocks, making our way steadily along the shoreline. We passed three or four fisherpeople, two of them women. We passed kids digging in the sand as parents sat nearby. And we passed countless kiwis walking and jogging along the beach, dogs of all shapes and sizes in tow.

We picked our way along the rocks, moving slowly both to watch our footing and to constantly snap photos. As we passed out of Island Bay and into Owhiro Bay, the scenery got even better, if you can believe it. Not only we were greeted with crashing waves and bright sun, but, because it was such a clear day, we could see all the way across the Cook Straight. The Southern Alps could easily be seen, piercing the sky in the distance.

Andrea and I made our way around Owhiro Bay, and eventually came to the entrance to the Te Kopahou Reserve. The Reserve is a conservation area riddled with various hiking tracks. Since Andrea and I wanted to get out to the seals, we chose the easy Coastal Track that (not surprisingly) continued along the coast. Our final destination was Devil’s Gate at Sinclair Head.

The Coastal Track, while relatively flat, took more out of us than we anticipated. The track, suitable for 4-wheel vehicles as well as hikers and bikers, varied between deep sand and rough gravel. When tramping over the rocks, I had to make a conscious effort not to let my ankles roll as the stones shifted under my feet.

We stopped here and there along the way to snap a photo or climb a rock. But we kept moving for the most part, both to be sure we could finish the 8 km hike before dark, and because the sun had already become hidden behind the large hill beside us. Without the sun and with the cold breeze still blowing, keeping on the move just made sense.

We made it out to Sinclair Head about an hour after starting in on the track. We glimpsed our first seal snoozing in some underbrush, and Andrea thought at first that he was dead. He wasn’t, however. All the seals were snoozing at the point in the day.

Sinclair Head serves as a “haul out” area for male fur seals during the winter months (May to October), and about 80 of them can be seen there during that time every year. Once we passed through Devil’s Gate, it seemed that nearly every rock protruding out of the sea had a dozing seal atop it.

Andrea found the seals very cute, and decided to get closer to a few sunning themselves in between a few rocks. I climbed up a rock with her, and we were greeted by a large seal who did not appreciate us invading his personal space. He let out a blubbering bellow, and we both squealed and scurried away. Thinking back on it, I highly doubt he would have been able to scale the rock to get us, but he didn’t sound very friendly, and we weren’t taking any chances.


Sinclair Head was a beautiful place. There were only a handful of people there on that particular Sunday, and the whole scene was slightly surreal. There I was, with the Southern Alps off in the distance, waves crashing in the mid-ground, and seals lolling about right at my feet. Add in the sun sparkling off the water and the calls of sea birds overhead, and it was definitely one of the coolest things I’ve seen in Wellington yet.

After getting our fill of seal photos (and more than our fill of seal stench), we began the arduous hike back to Island Bay. The hour and a half it took us to get back was rather uneventful. By then, our feet were sore and our camera batteries low, and the thought of a hot meal when we returned was the main thing on our minds.

We caught the bus back into town, and stopped at McDonalds for dinner, followed by Subway to get cookies for dessert. It was a great end to and even better day. I’d love to go back sometime when the weather warms up, even if there aren’t any seals to see. The views alone were totally worth the more than 12 kilometers we walked that day.