Gillespies Beach Seal Colony Walk
Your Nature Guide
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
Gillespies Beach Seal Colony Walk
Time: 3 - 4 hr return
Walk along the beach north of Gillespies Beach to visit the seal colony. Keep your eyes open because dolphins like to spend time here. On a nice day, the mountain vista provided by the Southern Alps is breathtaking.
Don't forget your sand-fly repellent as they can be keen and thirsty here!
Walking Track
Access
At the northern end of Fox township turn into Cook Flat Road. Continue past the Lake Matheson turnoff, take the sharp right hander and pass the Peak View Lookout.
From here and for the next 12 km to the coast the road is narrow, winding and unsealed. Not suited to larger campervans. All walks start from the road end carpark where there are toilets and a campground.
Details
| Feature | Value | Info |
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Organisation |
DOC West CoastCentral government organisation |
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Location |
South Island ▷ West Coast ▷ Fox Glacier |
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Categories |
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Directions To Coordinates |
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Coordinates |
Walking
Seal Watching
Nearby
Reviews
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5.0/5
Stunning walk through the rainforest, very muddy, good shoes are needed.
Signs say 3.5 hours return. plan with 4 to 4.5 hours. We did not see any deals but the walk was cool.
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5.0/5
Beautiful, adventurous, exciting and we saw a seal!
Felt natural and not disruptive to nature, very enjoyable.
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5.0/5
Beautiful, ever changing walk through forest, across streams, beaches.
Muddy and a lot of uphill but worth the effort and I saw one seal at the seal colony.
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4.5/5
Exciting walk through jungle like environments to reach the goal of a seal colony.
However, I did fall in the mud!!
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3.5/5
Really nice walk through the forest with an awesome end at the beach.
Not so many seals, but we managed to see one.
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4.0/5
Very nice walk through the forest.
It can be dangerous /slippery. Colony far away from the lookout.
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5.0/5
Highlight!!
Walk takes more than 3 and a half hours. Adventurous track with muddy challenges.
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4.5/5
We did not walk all the way to the seal colony but the walk along the beach to the lagoon and back is great and takes about 2 hours.
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2.5/5
Long track.
Plan with 5 hours return. Also after rained it was really muddy. We didn't see any seals. Even though the walk is cool don't do it because of seals. There are better spots.
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5.0/5
4-5 hours return to the colony.
You pass a beautiul lagoon and do not miss the short link to the miners tunnel - amazing view.
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-
5.0/5
Stunning walk through the rainforest, very muddy, good shoes are needed.
Signs say 3.5 hours return. plan with 4 to 4.5 hours. We did not see any deals but the walk was cool.
-
5.0/5
Beautiful, adventurous, exciting and we saw a seal!
Felt natural and not disruptive to nature, very enjoyable.
-
5.0/5
Beautiful, ever changing walk through forest, across streams, beaches.
Muddy and a lot of uphill but worth the effort and I saw one seal at the seal colony.
-
4.5/5
Exciting walk through jungle like environments to reach the goal of a seal colony.
However, I did fall in the mud!!
-
3.5/5
Really nice walk through the forest with an awesome end at the beach.
Not so many seals, but we managed to see one.
-
4.0/5
Very nice walk through the forest.
It can be dangerous /slippery. Colony far away from the lookout.
-
5.0/5
Highlight!!
Walk takes more than 3 and a half hours. Adventurous track with muddy challenges.
-
4.5/5
We did not walk all the way to the seal colony but the walk along the beach to the lagoon and back is great and takes about 2 hours.
-
2.5/5
Long track.
Plan with 5 hours return. Also after rained it was really muddy. We didn't see any seals. Even though the walk is cool don't do it because of seals. There are better spots.
-
-
5.0/5
4-5 hours return to the colony.
You pass a beautiul lagoon and do not miss the short link to the miners tunnel - amazing view.
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