Have you seen the baby seals at Kaikoura? The nursery is at Ohau Stream Walkway about 20 minutes North of Kaikoura.

Most of the seal pups found here were born during Nov and Dec and make their way up the Ohau stream to a waterfall pool in mid April. They hang out here and play while their mothers find food at sea and return occasionally to feed their babies. They use their time in the stream to mature, grow and learn how to become ‘Seals’. Once winter ends they make their way to the sea to learn to hunt and survive on their own.

The best time to see these seal pups is between May and October when apparently at times hundreds of seals can be seen hanging out along the stream and at the waterfall. Unfortunately the day we were there we saw only one. Didn’t they know we were coming and had made a special 5 hour round trip from Christchurch just to see them?? There were however lots of pups on the beach and also at the end of the Esplanade at Kaikoura.

Ohau Stream is about 20 minutes North of Kaikoura. Drive through Kaikoura and follow the Esplanade Road to the car park at the end. From here there are great walks and usually lots of seals. There are also lots of vantage points along the beautiful Kaikoura coast where you can see these amazing animals.

We might not have seen lots of pups at the stream but we had a great day, great scenery, great weather for the middle of winter and heaps of seals, magic!

We went to Ohau Creek to hopefully see lots of baby seals at the nursery, It’s a pleasant 10 minute walk but when we got there – NO baby seals. We saw this one when we got back to the end of the track on the way out of the bush.

I was so desperate to get a photo before the silly people behind us scared it away that it’s not quite focused but you will certainly get the idea of juts how cute they are.

When the noise came, it hid under the rocks and kept popping it’s head out.

We did find lots across the road at the beach though, not sure if it was because it was a stunning day or they are all sick of silly people wanting to get too close.

They are very well camouflaged.

A mother and baby sunning themselves on the beach

The beautiful and rugged Kaikoura coastline

People were surfing here!!! Stunning winter day but I bet the water was very cold!

We went back to Kaikoura and drove to the end of the Esplanade where we found more adorable baby’s.

 The are very good climbers – this one got up this wall with no trouble.

 Managed to catch this little one getting up the wall to find a warm spot to sleep.

These two weren’t giving up their spot on the board walk for anyone.