DOGS OF THE BIG DEEP

We have come into contact with many amazing animals in our lifetime but few have had an impact on us as great as both Sealions and Sea leopards.

We live with sea lions on a daily basis on the muttonbird islands and they really are the dogs of the sea and we mean that in a good way. They are intelligent, beguiling, graceful and have a primitive sense of what we believe is humour.

Sea leopards are light years more advanced than sea lions. However they are also considerably more aggressive.

Sealions are like border collies to the Sealeopards huskies.

It is hard to watch a video of some silly, silly young men who on seeing a very, very sick sea leopard decided to pelt it with rocks. Think a wounded dog lying in the street. Its the same - in fact the leopard is probably much more intelligent.

So instead of calling DOC or alerting some one who could either treat the obviously very ill leopard or put the animal out of its misery, the youths decided to torture it.

It is sick.

The criminals deserved much worse than a sentence of 4 months.

Below is some footage which we believe is one of the best examples of how these animals think. It is raw, its powerful and it shows the intellectual depth of these great creatures.

In his own primal way he is giving a gift.

He doesn't harm the penguin. He even takes it up for air. But he wants to give it to the camera man -extraordinary.

HOOKERS

We share our muttonbird island with these smelly noisy beautiful majestic big buggers. They live in the bush as much as on the beach and will literally scare the crap out of you if you come across them in the dark. On land they are very aggressive. At sea they play. We have hand fed them mussels from a rock - they are highly intelligent and an endless source of amusement. They can clean out a gill net full with about 20 green bone in a matter of minutes. Video courtesy of Stewart Island Helicopters

SOUTHLAND SECRETS

Jasons travel publishers have issues up a challenge to all Southlanders - share your secrets. Seems that today's travellers look for the uniqueness in destinations. Couldn't agree more. A recent tour to the outbacks took us to some pretty cool places but it was the intrinsic uniqueness of specific towns that people really looked for.

So here's ten things that we know about Southland we think are cool.

There are the remains of an old whaling base in Paterson Inlet on Stewart Island.















The sun always shines on the old neck beach in Paterson Inlet.

There is a smugglers cove in Pegasus Inlet that you can only find if you know where to look.

There is a shag breeding colony in a roadside swamp between Riverton and Orepuki.

The reservoir at Bluff has the biggest fresh water crayfish ( koura) aka crawlies you ever did see.

The best cheese rolls ( and coffee ) in Southland are at Zookeepers.



















The mouth of the Eglington on Lake Te Anau as the sun goes down is so breathtaking it will make you cry.
















Ruapuke mutton is the best in the world because the sheep sometimes graze on salt loving plants.


The Dunsdale Picnic ground inthe Hokonuis is one of the best in the world.


and the 10th?















Smallcraft inlet next to Port Pegasus where the Sealions play in the old forest...