I must warn you, dear reader, that this is a longer post. Day 31 was a simply incredible day. You might want to get a tasty beverage before you start reading.

Although we arrived to Tākaka late the night before, we woke early on the start of Day 31, with the land still dark. Our plan was to go for a hike on a Wharariki Beach, a remote stretch of sand near Pūponga at the northernmost tip of the South Island. It was about an hour away from our new house, and we had to leave around 7 AM to get there for low tide. It’s one of my go-to tips for travel—timing the tides to visit coastal spots when the water is lowest and the rocks are most exposed.

We got to the trailhead just a little before low tide, so time was tight. Incongruously, there was a peacock in the small gravel car park. Team Hubbard was intrigued, but we didn’t have time to investigate. Once again, we felt like we were on our own private tour of New Zealand, as we were the only car in the lot. We set off on the 30-minute hike to the beach, passing through green hills and wind-swept maritime forests.

So, why the push to get to this beach at low tide? It was for one major reason, and it’s a little silly. Windows users probably recognize the picture below. Mac users – this is one of the default backgrounds used on Windows computers.

I’d learned on the internet that this photo was taken at Wharariki Beach, and I wanted to see if we could find the spot where this pictures was taken. And we found it.

Hey look! I’m running windows.

In many ways, the Windows background shows the least impressive angle of these huge rocks. Both are actually arches with water flowing through them.

Having succeeded in our photo shenanigans, we set off down the beach in search of other interesting rock formations.

And we found them. Loads of them. We found sea caves.

We found huge arches in the water.

We found arches on the land.

We found narrow sea channels between massive rocks that would surely become death traps when the tide was higher.

Below the high tide line, many of the rocks were covered in millions of tiny mussels.

We enjoyed poking through the innumerable tidal pools, where we saw anemones, tiny crabs, snails.

Near one pool, we found an enormous orange starfish.

The girls and I took off our shoes to wade further into some of the sea caves and tunnels. In the dark depths of one cave, we found a crab desperately trying not to be noticed.

Altogether, the beach reminded us quite a bit of the Bedruthan Steps, one of our favorite places from our trip to Cornwall in 2017.

After exploring the beach for a while, the tide had started to come in. To be on the safe side, we decided to head back down the beach towards the area where we had started. Besides, near the trailhead, we’d seen a sign that said that there were seal pups in this area. On our way in, we’d spotted some rocks that we thought might be promising. Maybe we see some seals in the distance, as we’d done the day before in Kaikura.

I don’t think we were really prepared for what we found. Team Hubbard has a soft spot for cute animals, and when we reached the rocks, we found a large natural pool filled with baby seals.

The sign we’d seen earlier said to keep a respectful distance from any seals and not to follow, chase, or harass them. We really weren’t sure exactly what this meant. How close is “respectful” for a baby seal? Fortunately, there were a few local Kiwi’s also watching the seal pups, so we followed their lead and kept our distance. But the seals had other ideas. They were extremely curious and kept coming to greet us.

When the seals came close, we stayed still or backed away. And these adorable little seals just playfully approaching us.

Many of the frolicking seals tussled with each other. To keep a lookout for sneak attacks from their playmates, they tipped their heads straight up to look behind themselves.

They easily tired hopping around the beach and would flop to the sand in dramatic exhaustion.

Though awkward on land, these young seals were already masterful swimmers. We enjoyed watching them zip about the little pool, often upside down so that they could see the sand and shells beneath them. One of the seals found a stick and seemed to stick it in the sandy floor of the pool by doing a headstand. Then he proudly clapped for himself at his own ingenuity.

Much to our delight, the seals were as fascinated with us as we were of them.

As we watched, more pups came to the pool, bringing the total to 12. We shifted to some rocks to be able to took down on the mayhem, with some of the seals playfully leaping out of the water.

A video captures a little better the cavorting of the seals.

Eventually, we had to leave. The tide was coming in, and we were all hungry for lunch. Walking away from the seals may be the hardest thing Team Hubbard has had to do on the trip. #thestruggleisreal

We hiked back to the car, and drove to the nearby town of Collingwood, where we had a delicious lunch at the Courthouse Cafe. (The building was, in fact, an old courthouse, so we agreed that the day was somehow sabbatical relevant for me.) In solitary with our new seal friends, we had seafood, including grilled salmon, mussel chowder, and a fish pie.

After lunch we went for a second hike, this time on the Farewell Spit, a thin bar of sandy land that stretches for more than 20 miles away from the shore like a giant kiwi beak.

We walked only for a few miles on this massive beach, poking through some shells and laughing about the seals. We returned to our car through a field filled with sheep, ducks, and shore birds.

We finally got back to our house shortly before dark. This was our first chance to see what house number 10 actually looked like from the outside.

What a day! Our seal encounter was the kind of experience that doesn’t seem real. Just when we think that New Zealand couldn’t possible raise the bar, this kiwi country does it again. Wow. Hardout, bro!

-Will