Whales!

We had a pleasant drive down the coast from Renwick and Blenheim to Kaikoura with the weather worsening as we travelled. Journey highlighted by numerous close views of New Zealand fur seals which are apparently not seals but sea lions. After a pleasant afternoon wandering around the Kaikoura peninsular we booked our whale watching trip and checked into our motel (another very large, well equipped and comfortable room - even has a foot massager as part of the shower!) before dining on crayfish (NZ lobsters) at the Green Dolphin close to the waterfront. The weather really closed in now and during dinner there was a torrential downpour which lasted most of the night and resulted in snow on the nearby mountains. We had been warned about potentially heavy seas for the whale watching so it was with great relief that we woke up to a bright, sunny and relatively warm morning.

We arrived at the whaleway station (sic) to find the forecast still saying heavy seas, 25 knot winds and high risk of seasickness. However, being stiff upper lipped Brits we refused the offer of seasickness tablets and boarded the catamaran for the trip. The visibility was great, really sunny and clear but to say it was choppy is a massive understatement. The lovely lady wife was holding on to the arms of her seat and the backrest of the one in front; no mean feat with only two hands. Inspite of the discomfort and numerous other passengers being very ill, we were fine. The sea level off Kaikoura starts fairly shallow and then quite suddenly drops to a depth of ~1000 metres and this apparently makes it ideal for sperm whales.

We eventually encountered one of the said species and whilst I hate the everyday NZ use of the word awesome it was truly merited in this situation. To see this 20metre, 50 ton mammal only ~50 yards away was fantastic. After swimming along parallel to the boat for ~15 mins it then decided it needed another snack of giant squid and dived to the depths so we saw the full fluted tail in the air - memorable.

When we arrived back the lady wife decided she needed a swift glass of Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc to restore her land legs and we enjoyed this at the Pier Hotel overlooking the bay before heading of for a fairly steep walk along the cliffs at the headland. Wonderful views and fascinating geology.

Now getting rather tired we returned to out motel room having collected an excellent spit roasted chicken from the supermarket.

Tomorrow we head for Christchurch and will be meeting with our friends Miles, Emma and Ruari who moved out here from West Sussex eigthteen months ago.

We collect our campervan from Christchurch airport on Saturday 15th and whilst we will try to keep up with our blog, internet access may be more difficult so the blog might be more intermittent.