Cape Foulwind Walkway

Cape Foulwind Walkway

Tauranga Bay to Seal Colony

11 Rankers Reviews

9 Face-to-Face

6 Westport

Your Nature Guide

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Marios Gavalas

Author And Researcher

Nau mai, haere mai

Nau mai, haere mai

I'm Marios, delivering the best of Aotearoa's nature walks to your device.

I've personally walked hundreds of New Zealand's tracks and spent months in libraries uncovering interesting information on New Zealand/Aotearoa. And you'll find a slice of that research on this page - enjoy!

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Information

Cape Foulwind Walkway

800 m return | 20 minutes return

One of the best places to observe a fur seal colony - live. Want to know how pups learn to swim? Or land on the rocky shores? How do males stake out their territories? This is a natural history programme / soap opera - but for real.

Walking Track

Access

From Westport head 12 km south on SH6 past the cement factory. 4 km after crossing the quarry road, the road leads to Tauranga Bay. Turn right at the signpost along Coast Road to the large parking area with toilets and picnic tables.

Track

The well-formed track skirts the headland with viewpoints over Tauranga Bay and then the seal colony. There’s a huge wooden viewing platform above the action.

Return via the same track.

The walkway continues another 1 hour to Cape Foulwind.

Fauna

Seals are known as pinnipeds (wing footed) because of the webbed flippers instead of paws or feet. Streamlined bodies and blubber keep them warm (hence their hunting for fur). Their ears, nose flaps close when diving. They feed on squid, octopus and hoki.

This is a permanent colony. Males arrive in November and December to stake out territories. This is a battlesome affair, with huge chunks of blubber being removed from their thick skins by sharp teeth. Darwin all the way. Females who occupy their domain are theirs for the taking. The poor females have only recently given birth to last year’s pups and receive the males, who impregnate as many as possible during the breeding season. They then leave, kick back for the rest of the year and go fishing. Females then nurture their young, suckling and conducting courses in swimming. Nurseries of pups are often witnessed trying to avoid being pulverised on the rocks by the crashing breakers. Once weaned, they must then avoid being eaten by orca or sharks and the cycle repeats again.

European History

The Dutch explorer Abel Tasman passed here in 1642 and named it Rocky Cape.

Captain Cook gave it the welcoming name used today.

Feature

Famed New Zealand poet, James K. Baxter, likened the seals to boulders on the boulders.

Details

Feature Value Info

Organisation

DOC West Coast

Central government organisation

Location

South IslandWest CoastWestport

Categories

  • Activity__walking_and_trekkingWalking
  • Free

Directions

To Coordinates

Coordinates

-41.7653266261764

171.45912399292

Latitude
-41.7653266261764
Longitude
171.45912399292

Nearby

Reviews

    • Lots of seals!!
    • Many seals swimming in the Tasman Sea.
    • Little walk out to the point to see seals!!
    • Very good.
    Rating Count Percentage
    10/10 4
    36%
    9/10 5
    45%
    8/10 2
    18%
    7/10 0
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    6/10 0
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    5/10 0
    0%
    4/10 0
    0%
    3/10 0
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    2/10 0
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    1/10 0
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  • 4.5/5

    Nice walk, saw some seals on the rocks as well as in the sea, enjoyed the walk without many other tourists.

    Reviewed about 7 years ago and experienced in March 2017

  • 4.5/5

    Very good.

    Wish we had time to walk further.

    Reviewed over 7 years ago and experienced in February 2017

  • 5.0/5

    Great walk, this was one of the best parts of our trip.

    Seeing seals in their natural environment was really special.

    Reviewed about 8 years ago

  • 5.0/5

    Amazing to be able to observe the seals in the Bay, peace and liberty surrounded by a beautiful landscape.

    Bring some binoculars for a closer look! But a camera zoom is good too.

    Reviewed over 8 years ago and experienced in March 2016

  • 4.5/5

    It was an amazing moment to see the seals in their nature area.

    I did love to see that.

    Reviewed over 8 years ago and experienced in March 2016

  • 5.0/5

    Although the seals aren't super close, they are delightful and free.

    We saw plenty of pups playing together in a rock pool and generally being silly, slipping around and play fighting. We even saw a mother feeding her baby on a warm rock. The walk was easy and informative.

    Reviewed over 8 years ago

  • 4.0/5

    We saw a seal colony - it was fun and you could easily see them!

    Reviewed about 10 years ago and experienced in March 2014

  • 5.0/5

    We had the chance to see the seal colony, which included many baby seals frolicking around.

    Many helpful information boards along the way.

    Reviewed over 10 years ago and experienced in February 2014

  • 4.0/5

    Little walk out to the point to see seals!!

    Reviewed over 10 years ago and experienced in February 2014

  • 4.5/5

    Lots of seals!!

    And little pups (we were there in January). Easy access.

    Reviewed over 10 years ago and experienced in January 2014

  • 4.5/5

    Many seals swimming in the Tasman Sea.

    Reviewed almost 12 years ago