We go on Safari

We were on the 9:01 train into town this morning to meet our guide for the Seal Coast Safari.  According to the website, it was an off-road adventure during which we were guaranteed to see seals.  We arrived at the meeting place a little late but Kent, our guide and the director of the company, was in a good mood.

He showed us into a four-wheeler--a Land Rover, I think--and we went off to pick up our only other passenger, Sylvia, a transplant from England.

We started on regular roads and went high into the mountains.

Little did we know what was coming.  We went off-road and up through incredibly high hills on incredibly steep and narrow roads.  We were all white-knuckled.  Kent was chatting the whole time.  Later Meredith and Noreen told me they wanted to tell him to shut up and watch the road.

People actually live in these hills...including a fellow that bought an old government building and it turning it into a castle for guests.  Only government red-tape is preventing him from opening it.

Also along the way, we ran into a family of deer who were very friendly, al least until the realized we had no food.  Then they got bored.

Once over the hill we were riding along the rugged coast of the South End of the North Island.  The ride was incredibly bumpy.

And, as guaranteed, we saw plenty of seals.

We got close enough to have our picture taken with them in the background, but one finally snorted at us to stay away.

That's Sylvia with us in the picture above.  And here's Kent explaining some other aspect to the coast.

Happily, we did not go over the mountain again to get home, just around the coast.  And Kent dropped us off very close to a restaurant on the water where we had a nice--if slow--lunch.  Then we headed for the Te Papa Museum, which has been highly recommended by every source.

We were not really impressed.  So after about an hour, we were back at a harbor-side bar having a drink.

We were at Mac's Brewhouse, which had two seating areas, one near the building itself and one in the center of the courtyard.  And, according to a sign, staff members had to carry the drinks the courtyard between the areas.  That struck us as so funny--to see people accosted by a staff member as they left the one area and asked to put their drinks on the tray.

We were giggling so much about it, Noreen decided to see if she could foil the system by following close behind the waiter who was already carrying someone else's drink.

We actually clapped when she made it to the other side without having to give up her drink.  She let the guy carry it back.  He obviously knew what we were doing because he said to Noreen, "Stupid New Zealand Rules."

I should mention, also, that this bar had bean-bag chairs.

After that it was home, though we had to take the bus instead of the train because they were working on the train tracks.

Thursday is our last day here.