I almost got attacked by a seal today. But before I relive that horrifying moment, lets' go back to the beginning of the day!

It started when we got up at 8am. We had to check out today, and we still hadn't finishing packing. We also had a big breakfast as we were doing the 3hr seal colony walk and wanted to be prepared.
So after we finished all that, checked out and lugged our seemingly 100kg bags upstairs to store for the day, we set of at 9.35am to do some intense walking! Well, maybe not intense..

It was an absolutely beautiful day, it was crisp & cold, but there was no wind, so it was very refreshing. The natural sun kept us very warm, and we didn't need our jackets & scarfs that we bought with, in fact, they became more of a nuisance than anything.

It didn't take us too long before we reached the seal colony, only about 50mins. We first saw them along the walkway, hidden up under the trees. They were sleeping peacefully and looked amazing. We walked around a bit to the end of the walkway, and there was a young seal parked right in the middle, snoozing away. We had to jump off so we could get around without disturbing him. We wondered around, and down to the rocks on the beach where there were some more we could see, than back up again when we couldn't go any further.

So we came back up and the younger seal was still napping away on the walkway. I tried to get in next to him to get a photo, but didn't want to get too close, in case I scared him. It didn't really work, so Kristy suggested I go behind him. That didn't seem too bad, so I did just that. It was alright at first, but when I knelt down, I must have felt threatening to the poor seal, and he went into attack mode! They can definitely move fast when they need too! All of a sudden, this cute, little, innocent seal was bearing his sharp teeth at me, running towards me and barking (I think that's what they do). It was possibly the scariest thing ever! Because I was kneeling, it made it harder for me to try and escape, I was mostly just falling over myself and in the end I just fell off the walkway screaming! It was probably the most embarrassing thing ever as well. I tried to shake it off, but I was trembling inside for the next 15mins.

After that incident, we continued along the walk, and had to climb an awfully steep track up the side of a mountain. It was horrible, but it only took 5mins, and that was the worst of it! The next and 2 and a bit hours went by pretty quick, it was a lovely walk, and not too many hills either. Walking along the beautiful coast line is always good.

When we got back into town, I treated myself to a hot chocolate, as a reward for staying alive today. Then we went back to the hostel where I had noodles for lunch and read the rest of my book. At about 3.30pm we went into town to post a few things and to wait for the bus at take us to Christchurch at 4pm. When we did get going, even though it was only a 2 hour and 40min trip, it seemed like forever!

We got to Christchurch, and there is still heaps of damage and buildings that are destroyed and forgotten. It's really terrible to see. The city is so quiet as well, there's hardly anyone around at all. And to make it worse, the hostel has all these signs up for what to do if an earthquake hits. I really don't want to put it into practise!

Tomorrow we go horse riding! And hopefully when we get back we will have time to explore a bit more of the city. I got a map of Christchurch, and in the centre there's a 'Red Zone' which is where the worst was hit, and is still too damaged to go near. I'm sure we will be fine here for 2 nights! I hope…