Waking Up In Okarito

Each day as we awaken into consciousness the roar of the water is the first sound we hear. The campground is just a block or so from the Tasman Sea and its pounding incoming tide.

This tiny village of about 30 people clings to the water's edge. Morning light.

Okarito history

Banded dotterels nest on the beach. Read more about them here.

The Okarito Community Campground is very sweet, well managed, and spotless. 

We've been virtually alone here until today, Saturday, when a couple other weekenders arrived. In the summer months, there can be up to 100 campers here. One of the reasons we so enjoy NZ in winter.

Art's doing the dishes in the outdoor kitchen

There is an airfield (just a piece of mowed grass, really) adjacent to the campground, which I thought was part of the campground. Whoops!

Yesterday we walked the beach at lower tide. The air off the water is as pure as we've inhaled.

Even after six months here, we forget about fur seals basking in the sun.  Art surprised one. Can you see it moving into the surf?

Here: I'll enlarge it.

Warming myself against a rock. We've had some gorgeous spring weather along this temperate coast--in the high 50s/feels like 65. Who stenciled that fern on the rock next to me?

Every walk here is gasp-worthy for its enormity. Today we saw more of the Okarito Lagoon, NZ's largest unmodified coastal wetland, and now that camp wifi has been restored we'll report on that tomorrow.