Kean Pt ~ Kaikoura, New Zealand

Have you seen Fur Seals, in their natural habitat, doing what seals do?

Kean Point Kaikoura is a haven for wildlife and most importantly, at least for the tourists, are the New Zealand Fur Seals.

Kaikoura, being the small seaside town that it is, makes finding Point Kean relatively easy. A short drive from the town centre will see you at the point.

Along with many other tourists all searching for their up close and personal encounter with the seals. Although, the area is well signed and tourists are advised to stay at least 10 metres away, after all these are wild animals.

This was tricky for the kids though, keeping ones distance from a cute and cuddly baby seal is just so hard to do.

If you keep your eyes peeled there is all manner of bird life around the point. This Southern Black-backed Gull, decided to nest right on the main thoroughfare for the tourists heading out to get their glimpse of a seal or two.

He was continually on guard for random tourists that weren't looking where they were going to ensure they didn't step on the nest. We watched one tourist get the fright of his life, as he wasn't aware of the nest and the gull certainly let him know that it was there!

We visited Kaikoura over the New Year period, whilst it is often relatively windy out on the point, the days were glorious and it was certainly a lovely place to sit and be with nature....and to take silly family snapshots. I'm sure the seals have seen worse!

This was one of those moments where my daughter just could not resist sneaking up to get a closer look at the baby seal. Thankfully she chose to stay above and behind him on the rock, so he was completely oblivious to her even being there.

It certainly is a rare treat to see these beautiful animals in their natural environment simply doing what seals do.

Be sure to visit Kean Point several times during your Kaikoura stay and time your visits at different intervals, that way you are bound to see a variety of seals all behaving differently.

Whilst difficult for us to photograph, one of the highlights was visiting on high tide and whilst there were no gorgeous specimens sunning themselves as most of the point is covered in water, there were many seals, frolicking and swimming with each other right before our eyes.

It was truly magical to witness.

Whilst in Kaikoura, though be sure to take the short drive north to see the Ohau Seal Colony, whilst a different viewing environment than Point Kean, there are generally larger numbers at Ohau.

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Kaikoura is 180km north of Christchurch, a small seaside village, with a permanent resident population of approximately 2000, it is popular with both tourists and locals.

We loved or time with the seals, definitely a bucket list experience!

Happy Travels,
Kylie

Bestbrook ~ The Setting

We've been out exploring South East Queenslands, Granite Belt Country. During our time out that way we stayed at Bestbrook Mountain Resort.

A stunning country setting, with rustic cabins, camping grounds, bunk house style accommodation and a large main coach house area with a bar, cafe and games room.

The rustic style cabins are scattered throughout the large property. Some having direct creek access and others further away on small hill tops over looking the entire farm stay area.

This gives you a good idea as to just how spread out things are here at Bestbrook, which is fabulous for some beautiful peace and quiet. Not once did we hear any noise from surrounding cabins or campers.

However to check out anything on the farm is a pretty decent walk and in all honesty we drove pretty much everywhere. The kids all had their push bikes, thanks to the generosity of a friend transporting them out there for us. So they peddled everywhere, with sore and tired muscles on every inch of their body by the end of the week.

A view from the deck of one of the cabins that has direct creek access. You can also see how far away your closest cabin actually is. Just across the creek is the camp ground. I suppose in busy times you would probably get some noise coming from there.

Each cabin has a fire pit of some description. You did need to take your own wood or purchase from the coach house. There is absolutely no fossicking for wood allowed on the property.

Jump across the creek, or drive around on the gravel road and you find the camp ground. This area is quite isolated from the main coach house area of the farm stay. But perfect for those just wanting to get away from it all.

There isn't much in the way of facilities over in the camp ground, apart from port a loo's (showers are further back up the hill) and a rustic outdoor covered area.

However there is plenty of room, mostly flat ground and several trees to grab some shade over your structure.

Gap Creek itself, which runs directly through Bestbrook is quaintly picturesque. We were told that it was very low during our stay and some areas were completely dry, but in others there still seemed to be quite a bit of water....enough for a spot of yabby fishing anyway.

Butterflies and Dragonflies proliferate the edges of the creek banks. They are such busy little creatures, getting a shot of one was certainly very trying. No point chasing them, it's definitely a case of sit still and wait for them to come to you.

Bestbrook has several horses and a hand full of farm animals. From my understanding this is not a working farm, but purely a tourist destination so apart from riding horses, they only have a handful of other farm animals.

The owners are also keen collectors of farming implements and there are several of these scattered around the main coach house area.

The main coach house sits atop the hill at the entrance to Bestbrook, and looks out over the property below.

The verandah area is a lovely spot to sit for an afternoon beverage or to enjoy some Eggs Benedict from the cafe inside at breakfast.

You can just see the kids in the pool from here too!

The pool is a great addition I think, as inviting as the creek was, all the kids found it rather chilly.

Inside the coach house you will find a well stocked bar, again decorated with all manner of farm implements and antique bits and pieces.

The coach house is a series of rooms, with seating available in each of them. With the very far room tucked away as a games room area.

We thoroughly enjoyed our time at Bestbrook Mountain Resort. All of the staff were extremely friendly and welcoming to both adults and children alike.

Happy Travels,
Kylie

Ballarat Wildlife Park

Ballarat Wildlife Park is a small family run wildlife centre, opened in 1987 by Greg Parker. The park covers 37 acres and has about 400 animals on display, including free roaming kangaroos.

During my time researching Ballarat and all it has to offer I came across the wildlife park. Now, we've been to a few zoos in our time and so in all honesty I was considering simply skipping this one.

However, as I always do of late when researching places to visit and various travel options I jump on Trip Advisor, there I found several comments about the wildlife park, pretty much all of them recommending a visit there, for one reason or another.

So of course a visit to the park was added to our list of plans. In fact it was the first place in Ballarat we called on, after dropping our luggage off at the cabin in which we were staying.

As with everything in Ballarat it was a short, simple drive over to the wildlife park, we visited on a Saturday afternoon just after Christmas, so I'm guessing it would've been one of their busiest times. The park was open enough for the large groups of people to spread out, the only time we were really aware of people were at the animal presentations, where things did become a little crowded.

We love these majestic creatures.

We entered with perfect timing, the Koala presentation was about to begin and who can resist seeing and touching these guys up close.

This Burmese Python was simply stunning. On our second walk through the reptile house we found it with its mouth agape, it was ginormous.

The reptile house sits right alongside the Koala presentation area so we naturally made our way over there. In fact we visited the reptile house more than once. We loved that it housed creatures that none of us have seen up close before.

The exhibits were varied with a large number of reptiles on display many of them we had never seen in such close proximity before

Our 6 year old and this snake spent several minutes poking tongues at each other.

Each of the kids experienced their own personal encounter with at least one of the animals. I'm always in two minds about zoos and wildlife parks but the one positive is the way that animal encounters such as these leave an indelible mark on you.

This guy followed and seemed to play with our 10 year old as she moved her hands across the glass front enclosure.

There were only a handful of people there, yet another great encounter.

I think we had come back around for a third look inside the reptile house when we realised that the keeper had the enclosure open and was feeding these little gators.

It was quite a warm afternoon and we definitely felt the heat.

The park itself meanders down the side of a hill, with well laid paths, signage and fenced areas making it easy to wander around.

Time to introduce you to CRUNCH!

Crunch didn't move once whilst we were visiting. He simply sat and glared at all the passersby.

At 5metres long and 500kg this guy is one huge crocodile. It was difficult to get photo's of him as understandably he was tucked away behind his glass enclosure. Poor old Crunch was a bit of nuisance croc in far north Queensland and after a series of adventures he ended up here in his new home in late 2013.

The enclosure for these guys is huge.

The tank has a large low viewing area which would be an amazing spot to truly take in Crunch's size, here we got a good glimpse of his much smaller female counterpart.

There were several ducks and birds taking shelter under the shady trees.

As you meander down the concrete walkways, heading to the bottom of the hill you are greeted with a large lake area.

This little kookaburra was so used to people the kids could just about touch him.

The kids were quick to spot this guy, quite obviously not a park resident but my guess is he spends most of his time here, he was clearly at home and comfortable in this space and very used to strangers coming up quite close.

We enjoyed a cool ice block in the shade, whilst our Emu friends looked on.

Emus roam freely about the grounds.

Our 13 year old and this parrot were captivated by each other. The parrot flew to him no matter what end of the enclosure he stood at. Our guess is, he loved the red t-shirt.

The large bird enclosure housed a pair of stunning black cockatoo's but it was this little guy that stole our hearts.

A large gully flows straight through the centre of the park, it was quite dry there during our visit.

Our 10 year old could've spent hours here and probably would've liked to take a few of these guys home. She has mentioned a few times about becoming zoo keeper at some point and after leaving she was quite clear that she would like to work with the roo's.

By far the favourite stop was with the free roaming kangaroos. They spent most of their time lazing around in the shade of a tree as it was quite a warm afternoon. That was of course until someone came along with food.

Aww mum, he's so cute when he holds my hand.

It took our 6 year old a little while to warm up and have a go at feeding, he was somewhat concerned about being bitten and scratched. We eventually were able to persuade him that it was a relatively safe activity if he remembered that they were still wild animals and he needed to act appropriately. He instantly fell in love also, when this little guy held his hands each time he took food from him.

The park was well laid out and very easy to get around. There is a small cafe and gift shop at the entrance/exit of the park. We were actually surprised at the large number of international tourists here but later realised when we visited Sovereign Hill as to why. We were able to obtain a family pass to enter the park for $78.50. We had pretty much walked the entire park in just under 3 hours, but you could just as easily spend 4 or 5 hours here if you wanted to take in a number of keeper presentations. Visit the Ballarat Wildlife Park website to plan your trip. We were very glad to have included this in our stay at Ballarat.

In simple pleasures you will find life treasures,
Kylie xx