This NZ fur seal swam past the front of the rock and into the beach behind us, a while later it flopped past me and around to the front of the rock. It was wary but not enough to stop it finding a good spot to dry off and have a snooze. We could work around it and get within a meter of it, I pulled a fish past its nose, and it took no notice.
It was still there when we left.
A snapper of 2.7 kg and a good Kahawai caught with a few smaller kahawai and a similar snapper that was cut off by the rocks trying to lift it up on Friday 13th. I was there by myself from first light.
These are the barriers the Council Parks Department have put on the track over the hill, yes, there was a small slip that took out half the track, but plenty of room to pass safely. After a disaster years ago when a poorly built viewing platform collapsed killing 8 students in the South Island, all owners of infrastructure have been ultra conservative. The 15 students had ignored a sign saying maximum persons 5 and were jumping up and down together. What did they expect!
Now the Auckland council do not have the money to fix the track, there is so much red tape and engineering reports before anything is done.
As this is the only track to view the gannet colony, a cafe / restaurant has had to close as the visitor numbers to Muriwai have slowed drastically despite tourism having bounced back.
It's interesting getting past by torchlight.
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