All Day Beach - Timaru - Christchurch - Goodbye New Zealand

In Timaru, I wanted to keep an eye out for little blue penguins, which Markus and I had already seen on the Otago Peninsula. However, during the rather long drive from Owara to Timaru, I made a stop at All Day Beach, where I could quietly observe a seal for quite some time until children discovered it and alerted their parents. Two women then approached the seal so closely that they actually blocked its access to the water, causing the seal to hiss at them. Fortunately, the women understood what the seal was trying to communicate and made way for it.

A few hours before sunset, I arrived in Timaru, prepared a nice dinner for myself, and then went to the promenade with a camping chair, where the little blue penguins come ashore every evening. I found a cozy spot where I could see the beach well through the bushes and where the water was still a few meters away. I hadn’t paid any attention to the tide, and so I happened to be sitting exactly at the perfect place when, two hours later, three little blue penguins waddled out of the water. The tide had brought the waves a little closer to my position, allowing the penguins to come ashore right in front of me. Super cute!

The next day, I had the last leg to Christchurch ahead of me, where I had one more day to service the car (refuel, check tire pressure, coolant, engine oil, etc.), clean it, and empty it out. And then I was already at the starting line for the next destination...