Sunday, June 24, 2007

Seals at Red Rocks

Despite a threatening weather forecast it has been another beautiful weekend in Wellington. So as Aaron headed off on a training ride I decided to go and check out Wellington's seal population on the south coast. A seal colony forms every winter to feed and bulk up over the cooler months.

Anne Laure and I set off on our bikes from Owhiro Bay along the rocky/sandy/water crossing 4WD track out past Red Rocks to the point where you can smell the seals. They are pretty smelly creatures - although to be fair we didn't get the worst of it as it was fairly windy. You can get up pretty close to the seals, they seem to be unafraid of people - probably why they were a major food source for the original Maori. Now the fur seals are protected, so I guess they have no need to be afraid of humans.
Fur seal basking in the sun

Hiding in amongst the rocks

Friday, June 8, 2007

Office View

Not too much exciting lately. Here is a picture of the view from my office window. The round building on the right the "Beehive" and the gray building on the left contain the houses of Parliament.

I also have a nice view of the harbour, when it is clear!