I have learnt something about seals today...

Actually I did. They're damn hard to photograph. Didn't help that it was a bit overcast and that the Conservation Dept warns you to stay 10 metres back from them But I'm getting ahead of myself...

A week or so ago we were riding to work in the morning and as we rounded the corner into the inner harbour we saw a seal playing in the channel. That was cool. This morning as we rode to work, there was a seal snoozing on the beach at Macandrew Bay. As we rode back this afternoon, he was still there, sleeping peacefully - oblivious to the end of day traffic about 10 metres away. He'd moved a bit during the day, so he'd probably been off for a swim, but it seems like he's settling in for the summer. It looks like he's a New Zealand Fur Seal, rather than a Hooker's Sea Lion (the other species round here) but he's quite big, so I could well be mistaken. I suspect he's come into Macandrew Bay to chase the salmon which are about to run in the harbour. Most of the seal populations live on the other side of the peninsula, on the Pacific-facing beaches.

So here's some quite bad photos of a seal. More photos if he sticks around and the sun comes out again.