Having a whale of a time!

Up at 06:30 on a brisk morning on the Pacific Coast, to be ready for the 10 – 15 minute walk down the road and around the corner to the Whale Watch base.

I wasn't expecting the view that greeted me as I stepped out, as when we'd arrived yesterday, it had been somewhat cloudy:

The backdrop of the snowy mountains in the pre-dawn light was glorious.

So I got checked in in plenty of time and there's plenty more to write and show, but time is pressing today, so I'll limit this to a brief mention of the fact that I did see a whale eventually, “Tutu” to be exact.

Here he is shadowed by a second boat like ours, and there were planes & a helicopter overhead as well, so I'm surprised he wasn't scared off with all the commotion on the surface.

But he stayed around for about five minutes, recharging his oxygen tanks, before diving back down into the immense depths of the Kaikoura Canyon to continue hunting.

More later..... It's later and we have internet access again. The early morning trip was wonderful, though the information screen was somewhat pessimistic:

But being a good sailor (unlike Barbara, who stayed in Kaikoura for the day), I had no worries and sat in the nice warm cafe for a coffee:

and watched the sun rise over the Pacific:

In due course, after the safety briefing and a nice DVD about whales comparing the blue whale to the Boeing 767 we flew on to Christchurch (the blue whale is bigger), we were bussed to the marina where the Whale Watch fleet bobbed on their moorings:

and boarded our boat, the Aoraki:

I expect we were told what Aoraki meant in Maori, but I didn't retain that. We motored out at some speed, seated comfortably in the lower cabin, to the Kaikoura Canyon (see http://www.kaikourawhalewatching.com/whale_watching_kaikoura_new_zealand.php) where the sea bed drops dramatically several thousand feet (many more than the mountains behind us rise) and provides deep diving (and feeding opportunities) for the local sperm whale population.

Then we stopped and admired the views:

while the captain (forgot her name) listened on a directional hydrophone for the nearest whale(s):

She can apparently locate a whale feeding many miles away by its sonar. Whale Watch use entirely passive means for locating the whales, and their success in finding them demonstrates that the whales aren't scared off by the boat's presence.

Although she heard a nearby whale, it never surfaced within the time we had available during our trip, so we returned with only photos of albatrosses:

On my return to base, Barbara drove the motorhome around to the car park to join me, negotiating an unusual speed hump as she came:

It didn't look any different to a normal speed hump:

Unless you climbed up the ladder of a signal on the adjacent railway line, where you could see:

So, I wasn't about to come all the way to New Zealand and not see my first ever whale, so rebooked on the next available trip and did it all over again, and this time got to see “Tutu” (as previously described).

Once back, we set off, rather later than expected, for somewhere south, this time taking the back roads away from the coast. A pleasant enough drive and we discovered why the venison sausages were such good value:

And stopped in due course at a basic but reasonable campsite at Waiau.

written by  Saros on May 2, 2009 from Kaikoura, New Zealand
from the travel blog: The Hairy Animal 2009 World Road Trip
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