We shouldn’t be surprised to have lousy weather in an area known for its lousy weather. Cape Foulwind is a prominent headland overlooking the Tasman Sea. It was named by Captain James Cook in 1770 after his ship was blown off course by nasty westerly winds.
The Cape Foulwind walkway is a small section of the much longer Kawatiri Coastal Trail. We walked a beautiful track to the seal colony at Tauranga Bay. The colony is inhabited by fur seals all year but the best viewing is during mating season from November to February. We counted 16 seals resting on the beach today.
The fur seals pull themselves up onto this rocky beach to rest – a bit surprising they would use this section of the promontory with a nice secluded sandy beach not 800m around the corner!
We then walked through the rain to the lighthouse.
We escaped the rain at a local pub to have lunch and to let our jackets dry.
Tomorrow we head up to Abel Tasman Park.