It's the season (August to October) when some of the driftwood on the beach turns out on closer inspection to in fact be a Kekeno | New Zealand fur seal, come ashore to rest.
Update, 14 August 2023: apparently this isn't a Kekeno:
It appears it was a Subantarctic Fur Seal, and DOC were quite excited as they do not normally come this far north. Reports are that after a nice day on the beach it has headed out to sea again.
Miraz Jordan @lmika Thanks. Others have seen seals recently but this was my first for this season.
Miraz Jordan @ReaderJohn Humans! Otherwise, no. While I was taking photos of it a motorbike went past on the seaward side. It lifted its head and bayed. Later a car went past on the seaward side and it lifted its head, clearly disturbed. Unfortunately these seals look just like bits of driftwood while resting so it's easy to come upon them suddenly. Folks walking their dogs off-leash or with kids they're not watching closely can be right on them before realising. A friend had told me it was there and I still nearly walked past it even though I was looking for it.
Miraz Jordan @JohnBrady Yes indeed! There's clear law in NZ advising people how far to stay away and alerting to the speed of seals on land and the nasty bites. The dog / seal problem goes both ways: dogs harassing seals and seals injuring dogs.