Nature in THE CITY

Written by Geo Snelling, Wellington Rowing Club. October 2021

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When we think of city centres, we tend to think of museums, cafes, shops and the hustle and bustle of busy streets. Wellington has all these things too, but we have an X factor that not every city has - a waterfront harbour.

Despite the scurring of inter-island ferries, sailboats, and the water taxi, the harbour is home to some of nature's best. Blue penguins live here and we have some bigger creatures in the sea too — no, not just triathletes and open-water swimmers — but dolphins and even orca on occasion.

And, if we are lucky, we sometimes have very special visitors.

A long journey to here

On a Wednesday in mid-October, crews from the Wellington Rowing Club were out for one of their early morning training sessions on the harbour. As they turned their boats back to return to home base, they thought they saw something in the water … and it seemed to be following them.

As they parked their boats in the lagoon, and stepped out into the shallows to undo oars to carry their crafts up to the boathouse, the creature revealed itself — a rare Antarctic leopard seal.

The seal must have taken a long commute to visit us - over a thousand kilometres or more.

This one wasn’t fully grown, but was already over two metres long and probably weighed over a hundred kilograms — they can grow to over three times heavier than our familiar New Zealand fur seal.

If its size and spotted grey coat weren’t giveaways that it was a different animal - its nostrils, large head, and dramatic canine teeth were definitely clues. A leopard seal is a carnivore. When it opened its maw to reveal its teeth, an old quote can come to mind: “A dog is just a dog until it is facing you. Then it is Mr. Dog.”

Curiosity

On that day, there was a bit of a queue of boats to be carried out of the lagoon and into the shed. To the slightly anxious amusement of those rowers still standing in the water waiting their turn, the big seal swam over to have a closer look.

The nearest rowers quickly stepped up onto the boat ramp, and reached for their cameras as the visitor approached. Mobile phones captured the moment as the curious seal swam up to the boat to examine its fellow seafarer - and they caught the moment when the seal gently put its head on the gunnel of one scull to give it a nudge.

Once the seal had returned to the harbour, for the crews it was back to the usual task of drying off and putting away the oars and sculls before finishing up at the nearby Karaka Cafe for a warm-up coffee - but today the usual conversation turned to share their special encounter of nature in the city.

Yet another morning in Wellington’s CBD.

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Thank you to Geo Snelling from the Wellington Rowing Club for sharing this story.