New Year's Day & a Sea Lion

Following Phil's advice, I decided to use the transit to go out to Allan's Beach & then eat at Portobello before taking it back.

The road out to Allan's beach - which is on the Otago Peninsula, is very scenic, & winds right round Hooper's Inlet before ending in a wood.
Given the scarcity of folk, I changed into my bikini so I could go for a swim in the South Pacific!

The path lead out of the wood, over a bit of grassland & through the dunes. By the beach there was a sign warning of sea lions sleeping in the dunes, & to be careful you didn't disturb them.
I thought a warning before you walked through them would have been useful ;-P

The sea was an amazing blue, with loads of white breakers, & the sand was almost white, too.
I turned right & walked alog the shore for about 20 min, before turning round & heading for the more rocky end of the beach.
Once there I decided to go for a dip & got pummelled by the waves for about 10 min. It was way too rough to actually swim, & this South Pacific was definitely not that of Bali Hai, Nothin' Like a Dame, or Washing Men Out Of The Hair (it would have to be a COLD wash)

After getting thoroughly wet jumping over & through the huge breakers, I walked further towards the rocks & then saw a head in the water. It was a real, live, WILD, sea lion. WOW

So I yelled to attract the attention of other folk, & then ran - OK, hobbled, back to my stuff, grabbed the camera & likewise back.
I spent @ 20 min taking stills & vid, which as we speak, are still on the camera card.
Will ask an Internet Cafe Nerd to transfer them as I've not worked out how to do it today. I did try though!

So it was an A-Maz-Ing experience (there I go, being Craig Revell-Horwood again!), & as New Years Day was dawning in Blighty, I texted laods of folk to tell them all about it & wish them HNY.

Then it was back over the VERY HOT ON THE FEET dunes to the transit & over to Portobello for lunch.
Which was yummy (thanks for the tip, Phil).

And I fell asleep again in the sun, didn't I.
Fortunately, I'd had the foresight to slap it on beforehand, this time

Took the scenic route home down the other side of the Peninsula & dropped of the bus.
Walking home took ages - they were obviously having the day off, & there was no shuttle up Maitland St - Darn it.

But it was hot, so I went in the garden before tea to catch some rays, &, in true Dunedin style, thunderheads appeared & it got dark pretty smartish.
I therefore went for an early bed, given the lack of it, the previous night.

So, I'm nearly caught up story-wise, but still having trouble finding time to do the photo thing.
Will try & upload some more later, so watch this space, For now
OAO