Child's Play

I went for a drive to Jacks Bay today to sit in the sun and read my book. 

When I got there the first thing I did was take Jasper for a walk along the beach.  On the way back I was only about 6 feet from a lump in the sand when it moved and I realised it was a seal/sea lion.  Eeek.  Not a good idea to get that close to one - especially with a dog that might decide to bark at any minute and upset it!

I backed off quickly and put Jasper in the van.  Then of course I went back with my camera.  The reason i hadn't seen it was that it had thrown sand over itself - every now and then it stretched and shrugged some off, then threw more back on (see extra).  I don't know what this was about - either to cool off or warm up I assumed.  Although it did have a couple of small wounds on its side that flies were settling on so maybe it was trying to use the sand to shrug them off.

There was a family group not that far away.  The kids were having a wonderful  time in the sea with adults looking on.  It was great to see them playing - though I have to admit that I'm not sure I'd have let my kid be so close.  These things can move darned fast when they want to and can be pretty territorial.

When I left Jacks Bay I went in to Owaka for a lovely wee mini blipmeet with Oldtimer - and Aragon69 and Kiwilizzie joined us over coffee.  Nice to meet another blipper - thanks for making the time N.