Seakayaking, Seals & Penguins

Wednesday, May 27

On our first day in the Freycinet Peninsula we had a rare and very memorable sea kayaking experience followed by a nightime viewing of cute little fairy penguins coming to back to shore from a day fishing out at sea.

Starting to get the hang of paddling out in the open sea...

Nash & Daddy make it through the rocks without incident...

Mom & Ross had a tougher time!

Morning tea with hot chocolate and bickies makes everything better

Efforts of a family shell hunting contest-
the biggest one in the center is an Abalone shell found by Matt

Ross switched to Daddy's boat and is in the steering seat!

We were to paddle by some rocks where a group of seals had been "camping" for the about 2 weeks and as we did, these wild seals gave us a synchronous wave!! We thought this was really something...

Our yellow boats did not appear to bother them in any way and they seemed just as curious about us as we were them.
*Note the little pup in the upper right (facing backward)*

We stopped paddling and  they swam in and out and right up to the boats-
it took much willpower not to reach out and try to pet them.  It was amazing!!
The excitement continued for us as about 5 or 6 of them "escorted" us all the way back to the dock.

While we were visiting, the national parks were performing prescribed burns to prevent larger bush fires.  After our seal adventure, the boys & I opted for a rest time while Matt set out to explore Coles Bay and the beautiful Wineglass Bay & check on the burning. 

Smoke from the fires-

Closer look at the fire...

Wineglass Bay

This evening we drove about 30 minutes to the town of Bicheno and the Bicheno Penguin Rookery to watch these cute little birds waddle back to shore in the cover of darkness.  The park did not allow photos so as not to disturb the birds but imagine March of the Penguins...

Beautiful skies on our drive to Bicheno

We think we saw closer to 50-60.