I learnt a new word. As someone who loves words and uses way too many of them in the one sentence, that was an exciting moment. I mean, who doesn’t love to fling a new word around? The word is ‘galumphing’ by the way and I’ll get to how I came about it in a moment.
I recently strayed outside of the Northern Illawarra as I was searching for a very particular animal in a very particular spot after a particularly stressful few weeks. Some people turn to chocolate or wine when stressed, I turn to nature. Who am I kidding? I turn to nature AND chocolate AND wine, preferably all at the same time!
As soon as I had a free minute and the sun was shining, I jumped in my car and headed to the eastern breakwall at Port Kembla. If you’ve never been, when you first turn up it looks as though you won’t be able to access the break wall itself with a huge metal fence, rusted from the salt air, surrounding the entrance.
The break wall is closed from dusk to dawn and occasionally if the weather is really bad but, if the gate is open, you’re all good to step through and out onto the path. You’ll be in good company with lots of locals out walking, along with people fishing at various spots. But I didn’t head out to people watch. I wanted to see a fur seal.
Martin Island, which is about 10 minutes from Port Kembla by boat, is home to a bachelor group of young male fur seals. The numbers vary from around 50 to 100 animals and are made up of both New Zealand and Australian Fur Seals so keep your eyes peeled further out and you might be lucky enough to spot one of the boys out hunting for fish.
But if you want to see one closer, there is usually one or two fur seals that hang around the break wall itself and, luckily for us, they choose to sun bask and swim, rolling over and over again in the emerald-coloured water near the end of the wall and very conveniently almost directly under the sign attached to one of the rocks warning people to not touch the animals. Basically you just keep walking until you see the sign and then peer over the edge. Thank you, seals!
Now to that new word. ‘Galumphing’ is a kind of hilarious sounding word but also the perfectly descriptive term used for the way that seals move along on land. Once in the ocean they are graceful and playful and also lightning fast when hunting for food but on land, well, it’s all flopping along on their stomachs, like some huge, blubbery caterpillar. And that makes them all the more loveable if you ask me.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Amanda De George is a naturalist, writer and photographer based in the Northern Illawarra. Her passion lies in discovering interesting critters in urban environments and bringing them to the followers of her Facebook and Instagram page Backyard Zoology. Oh, and adventures and naps and wine; she’s passionate about those things too!
