Another blue dome day, another day exploring. This time we travelled a bit further afield - about an hours drive south west of Wellington. We packed quite a bit into the day and so have lots of pics for you and even some videos...

We started the day with a walk along the shore at Lake Ferry. Rather a bleak shore which could probably be mistaken for the moon, if not for the water, but picturesque nonetheless with the misty outline of north of the South island just visible in the distance..

Spent some time watching the locals surf-casting (fishing in the surf) and they were have quite a bit of luck. With one guy in particular continually landing snapper and even a Barracuda. Lake Ferry enters the sea here by a channel and it was quite visible on the surface where the currents mixed. In fact all along the shore you could see how powerful they were and you would not want to wander too far out.

Had fish and chips (pronounced "Fush and chups" in this part of the world) at Lake Ferry Hotel. They are apparently world famous but while they were a welcome feed, we were not blown away and the coffee was not great either-must do better!

After brunch we headed further along the coast to the Putangirua Pinnacles - one of the best examples of badlands erosion and earth pillar formation in the world. It also happens to be the location for "Dimholt Road" in LOTR. Scattered amongst all the scree you can also find rocks, covered in fossils. Below is one we prepared earlier...

With the sun high in the sky, we set off along the wide, rocky streambed and headed North. We stream snaked up the bed towards he higher ground and we had to cross it several times before we reached the foot of the valley in which the Pinnacles were.

As we moved further into the valley the ground, wall to wall scree started to get a little steeper. The reward was the sight of the pinnacles, or "hoodoos" themselves. Great examples of what the elements can do over time and quite an eerie landscape. Also plenty of opportunities to act the fool, not that any of us would... The valley narrowed as we proceeded further in and turned into a steep and narrow crevasse with towering walls of (rather fragile and loose) scree and shingle. Had a little explore, but could not find a way out so headed back for camp.

The sun was pretty strong today and (foolishly) not packing hats meant Rich had to resort to more creative methods of shading his bonce. Meanwhile, his feet gave him no complaints despite being shod in his five fingers whilst covering some pretty rough terrain - must have adapted quite well...

Could have stayed and explored here a little longer but sunset was approaching and we wanted to make a seal colony further along the coast. A first for both Amanda and Rich, we were able to approach to within a few meters several large fur seals that were sunning themselves on the rocks. An awesome site but the smell of these creatures was, rather less so and quite unique.

One last stop. We headed a little further along the coast to Cape Palliser names by Captain James Cook in honour of 'his worthy friend' Admiral Sir Hugh Palliser and is the site of a lighthouse originally built in 1897 and fully automated in 1986 -with some of the work completed by none other than our tour guide George!

The were great views to be had from the rock on which it was perched, but the slight obstacle of 250 steps to reach it. Missing his CrossFit Rich decided to set himself the challenge of running all the way to the top..he made it, just! Got about halfway quite easily but as the steps got narrower and steeper his legs were starting to get a bit heavy and the last few were completed at a pace not much more than a walk.