The Conclusion to the Brotzman Adventures

Kaikoura and Good-byes

Day 8 started a bit later than originally expected with a yummy baguette for breakfast and a sunny day. We hoped in the tiny Civic for one last trip as the terrible threesome and headed North for Kaikoura, the small resort-like town about two hours above Christchurch. The ride was hilly and twisty, so very fun to drive. We knew we were close to this little diamond of the East when we came out of the valley between two hills and found ourselves driving along the coast. The water was a deep ocean green and the sunlight danced in sparkles atop its rippling surface. Could it have been a more beautiful day???

We lunched in Kaikoura, overlooking the water, since the town runs all along the coast. We then drove towards the seal colony a couple of kilometres outside of town. Now, we expected nothing short of a horde of seals on rocks a few hundred feet away from the mainland...and we were so wrong about how this experience was about to unfold. As we stepped off the man-made concrete steps and onto the sun-dried rocks we saw other toursists with binoculars walking in from the furthest of the dry rocks. The tide was out and we were wandering amongst large, smelling bunches of sea kelp, baking starfish who had been unable to navigate their way towards a wet area during low tide and all sorts of shells clinging desperately to the small pool in hollowed-out rock beds. We looked around, disappointed in the realization that we would probably not see any seals due to our lack of binoculars, but we asked nonetheless, "where can we find the seals?". A passing tourist snorted at us and laughed, "well turn around". A rather arrogant gesture, but very well-deserved. As we spun around to look back at the route we came from, not even ten feet from the parking lot and the concrete steps to the rocks laid a medium-sized seal, bathing in the sun, rolling from side to side and sighing heavily as people stared.

You've got to be kidding me.

The seals matched so well with the rocks beneath our feet that they were nearly invisible without a good, hard look. So we walked. And as we walked we saw...or rather stumbled over more seals. You see, there is a rule that everyone respectfully follows that people aren't to go any closer than ten metres to the seals. This is a difficult task when you come over a ridge and nearly step on one of these hidden, lounging beasts. We continued to walk the coast, along the temporarily dry sea floor, seeing lonely seal after lonely seal, enjoying his own little spot, avoiding the rest of the colony. We were even unfortunate enough to see a dead seal, one that had dried and was decaying in the intense heat. It was hard to look, but also hard to look away, thinking of all the creature had been through, how it had come so far from it's colony just to die alone. Wondering why it had died. Wondering if all the other single seals, alone near the shore had also left their colonies to die.

And just as we thought we'd see no seals and would have to return before the tide came in, there they were. Dad saw them. An entire colony, flopping around on the rocks less than 100 metres away from us. After considering going nearer, we decided to brave the rocky beds to get a closer look. And of course, continuing with my animal luck, we nearly stepped on three giant seals. These three, quite a ways inland from the rest of the colony seemed to be acting as sentries, guarding their kin and the rest of their mates. Karen came over a small lump of rocks and yelped, seeing one of the largest seals we'd seen yet. He sat up, puffed out his giant whiskers and made some awfully threatening noises. The other two sat up, stationed about twenty or thirty feet away from him, at nearly exact intervals. They watched as we passed their invisible line, towards the colony. They turned and positioned themselves so they could watch our movements. The colony also noticed some intruders and like a wave stood upon their fins and waddled further up the giant boulders they were lolling on. After their retreat we figured it was enough. To see these creatures is a treat, but to disturb them so much wasn't fair. We turned to retreat, and found ourselves nearly trapped by the three sentries. So we carefully made our way back through their line, where I nearly stepped on one of the smallest ones. Once we finally found our way out of seal-land we returned to the car and headed to our next destination.

This is NZ and NZ is the land of sheep afterall. So what better way to celebrate the day than see a sheep-shearing up close and personal. So that is what we did. For ten NZ dollars we were able to witness the upclose shearing of a lovely little sheep, to feed a giant ram dubbed "Ram-man" and pet a friendly little black sheep named "Blackie" (clearly the owners don't have much imagination. Sheep are quite interesting creatures, but there isn't much more to say about them than that. It was very fun to see this whole process up close, to see this guy, with little trouble at all, roll this big sheep onto her back and shear her in nearly a minute. Apparently the record for number of sheep shorn in an eight hour day is 800 sheep. That is insane. And a lot of wool.

We had coffee on the coast afterwards and then left for home. The following day would be Karen and Dad's last day in NZ.

On Day 9 we went to Craig's workshop to see his frame-building tools. Nothing I haven't seen before, but my dad found it quite interesting. We did some last minute shopping in town and then headed out to Ruth and Mark's for lunch and some more time on the farm. On our way home from the farm it began to rain, and we had all though that Princess Karen's luck had worn out. But then we looked skyward and saw most definiltey the brightest and most complete rainbow I have ever seen in my entire life. It spanned across the whole sky and was so bright, the line where each color met the next was perfectly distinct. A fabulous finale to an amazing week.

We then went to the airport and had a tearful goodbye in the rain. It was hard to let go of my Dad, but sometimes you have to do things you don't want to. Having them here definiltey made me realize how much smaller the world is and how it is possible to see people you love, even half way around the world. It will be a long time until I see my family and friends from back home again, but I think I need to be here...a little longer. I am becoming aquainted with this place. Falling in love with it, among other things ;-) and I'm not ready to go home.

That being said I've begun inquiries as to how to extend my Visa...which seems like it should be a pretty easy task as the company that I came here with can help with it.

But let's not get ahead of ourselves. This is the end of the Brotzman Adventures, but only the beginning of mine. Craig and I leave for Hanmer Springs with his boys from work soon and then we'll be off on our own trip around the South Island.

I'll update when I can, because I know there will be lots to tell!

All my love to those back home.

Vive la rue de Brotzman!!!

-NMK