Jody and i continued exploring the Otago Pennisula in search of penguins. We did find them. However, it was a little fur seal that captured my heart and enhanced my view of mankind and the animal kingdom.
Upon leaving the castle, Jody and I drove around the hills of the region and found this pristine view of the Pacific Ocean.
As the weather got more moody, we went on an organized penguin hunt with an excellent local guide. Before finding the penguins, however, we visited fur seals up close and personal along the shoreline.
Fur seals everywhere lounging on the rocks, just as we had seen them on our trip to Milford Sound. Moms, dads, and children together.
Mom seal with her flipper around her pup.
It was then that our guide motioned to us to quietly follow him as we approached a fur seal and her pup not more then 10 feet away.
Those of you on Facebook are familiar with this picture of "Sparky" (the name I have given this little guy). I get very emotional looking at this picture of Sparky and must say that encountering him was one of those truly life-enhancing moments for me. As we approached Sparky, and as you can see in the first two pictures, he sat up straight and took notice of our approach. His mother was somewhat blase', I'm sure because she is used to humans getting near them for a looksee. But this little guy seemed very, very curious. He began moving his front flippers up and down, reminding me of little dogs when they are excited to see another person or animal. He would shyly lower his head and then raise it to look at us. He seemed, at least to Jody and me, like he very much wanted to come over and visit us. But, he would look at his mother and not move in our direction. He then cocked his head to the side as you see above. I don't think that I have ever felt that kind of connection with an animal in the wild. That look bridged worlds for me. I instantly fell in love with Sparky. I do believe there is a soul-to-soul connection between all living creatures on this planet. I am not so naive to not think that all animals are safe to be around. But, we acknowledge their presence and they acknowledge ours. The fact that 2 out of 3 fur seals never escape childhood is a sobering fact. I can only hope that Sparky will make it. If he can have such curiosity about creatures from another species, why can't we humans have the same level of curiosity about people who are different from us IN OUR OWN SPECIES? Sparky greets me every time I gear up my computer or smartphone. He makes me smile and be humble. To me, he is the light into the animal kingdom.
Hello! A penguin stares directly at us as we observe him from a distance. What a treat! We understood from our guide that he was alone on shore only with another penguin who was somewhere in the surrounding foliage. Our guide then gave us our next little surprise.
As we walked along a wooden tunnel built to allow the park rangers to move along the shore and to not disturb the wildlife, our guide had us open up a little door in the wood. Behind it was a little hatchery of newly hatched penguins. Behind it was the slope of the beach. The penguins were not in captivity, but could be safely observed firsthand by us from this protected view. No glass stood in our way. The penguins observed us without fear and a great deal of calm. Again, that sense of connectness was very, very strong.
Before leaving this section of the Otago Pennisula, we also briefly visited an area known for albatross sightings. While their, we were greeted with the scene of a Russian cruise ship sailing along the coast.
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