Amazing Marine Animal--adorable baby seals!

It was a long walk we had this morning. We thought it was a good decision to start the day with some kind of an exercise before the weather got yucky out as the weather forecast predicted for the rest of the week. We took the same our track that we used to do our hike 11 years ago; however, some path was changed. We had to walk through a bush of pine trees, which was better, I thought. As soon as we got on the hill, we could see the town below us and the endless ocean. It was awesome! We bumped into Carmine, the lady I used to stay with for 10 days during my school exchange between Rangiara High School and Kaikoura High School. She still remained the same, I thought. We chatted for a bit since we intended to visit her later on for a coffee at her house.

On the way back from the walk, we stopped at a nursery where Mom helped out sometimes. The kids were there from baby up to 2 years old. There were about 3 adults running the place. There was one Japanese lady, who is at the same age as I am, just lost her husband who was a teacher at the high school. She decided after her husband’s pass not to returned home since she loved the peaceful environment so much that she thought she would spend her whole life there.

Then, we got ready to start our adventures for the day. First, we went to see Carmine officially. We had a chat and tried to catch up with each other. Her sons are now growing up and William is now a Civil Engineer at my age. He is out abroad at the moment as well as his other two brothers. After the visit, we went to see baby seals. At first, I thought that they would be in an indoor pool or some kind; however, it turned out to be that we had to walk up the hill in a forest for a bit until we reached the waterfall. And there they were about 20 baby seals showing off a trick with pieces of sticks without a trainer. They discovered the freshwater heaven in the waterfall. After they were fed, they would claim up the rocks from the sea to the waterfall to “exercise.” It seemed to me that they really had a great time swimming and jumping in the little pond. It’s just amazing of how cute they were and the energy they had to come up this far from the sea. Mom said last time some people brought some balls for them to play with, but this time there were none. We intended to bring some, but we forgot. They were like little babies.

After we decided we had enough of the rain,cold, and the seals, we headed back to the town to look for some gifts and drop off postcards. There were so many precious things in the stores there, especially jewelry made of jades/ green stones, shells and wood. I did not get anything thinking that I did not really need them. Yet, I got a picture frame for Judy. Then we went to a photo shop to get a picture of me, Judy and Kelly developed.

Later on, we came back to relax and got ready to go to the mid-week happy hour for ladies from the Lion’s club. Mom is the president of the club. Tonight, there were not many members showed up since it’s cold and raining out. We talked about things and had a great time among “girls.” We had chips for snack. Then, Mom and I had to excuse to Shane and Dawn’s house for tea. We are having GREASIE tonight. I loved it so much that I felt so full after a piece of deep fried fish and a handful of chips and a snitch of donut…no wonder why I gained 20 pounds back 11 years ago. I thought this time I did not mind gaining some but not as much! We had a great talk and the kids were just so good and well behaved. I had a chance to catch up with Dawn whom I used to hang out with. Everything is still the same here except me who talks A LOT!