Hookers Sea Lion

One of the rarest in the world. 

I drove down to Portobello after the Seniors' Ball.  Arrived in the early hours of the morning.  My trip was really fortunate.  They had been predicting hail, sleet and snow for the Kilmog but when I came through it was starry skies and dry.  The fortunate part is that by the time I got up this morning the Kilmog was closed due to the inches of snow it was covered in.  

I went straight to bed when I arrived. 

Today has been interesting weatherwise.  It has alternated sunny, grey, hailing, snowing, sleet all day.  It has blown all day too, though with varying degrees of intensity.

The others started the day with sunrise shots down at the beach, which I'm led to believe was really disappointing.  I didn't get up that early after not arriving until so late.

After breakfast we all went out to Allans Beach and drove around Hoopers and Papanui Inlets.  When we were walking back from the beach we met this guy on the track.  We back pedalled quickly to leave him direct access tothe beach, then all congregated to take this photo.  What a handsome chap he was!  It was my first sighting of a Hookers Sea Lion, so that was prettey exciting.

After lunch Steph and I headed out for the albatross experience.  It was a really interesting tour of the nesting grounds of the Royal Albatross and of the old gun emplacements on the headland.  

We finished up the day with a shared dinner and lots of chat.  Altogether a good dy, regardless of the weather.  Our plan for tomorrow is to head around to Orokonui Sanctuary, hoping to arrive in time to see the takahe.  It could be an interesting trip with all the snow that is around.

I see that Rainie has also blipped this guy, so I've gone with a different perspective on him.  I've put yet another take again in extras.