Cape Farewell

Not to worry, there was more to the Golden Bay than just swans along the shore. The northwesterly lobe of the South Island, known as Cape Farewell, offered rolling sand dunes, wide expanses of surf, wind and water sculpted rock formations, caves the tide threatened to swiftly fill, and an awesome place to explore on a bright afternoon.

This is a glimpse beneath one of the boulders on the beach, which happened to be swirled with what we think is orange and green algae. It wasn't until after taking the photo that we a noticed a camouflaged seal napping—maybe you can spot him quicker than we did?

After the beach, we hiked to a lookout point so we could see the Farewell Spit, a thin jetty of sand that extends eastward, pointing toward the Marlborough Sound (which, sadly, was not quite within spittin' distance ; ).