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Here we get some of our final views of South Island, including some whale watching!
Christchurch and on to Kaikoura.
Although it was another somewhat dull beginning to the day, it was warm and dry. We did have a bit of rain overnight, which was good for drought-busting, but the area really needs more.
Before leaving the farm we were shown the 10 day old puppies of one of the sheepdogs. Needless to say they were adorable! There were six little black and white balls of fur in the barn, one being the lone female, which was least bothered by handling. Kathryn had the pleasure of having parts of her hand suckled by that one!
Not a bad day weather-wise, mostly overcast but dry and some sun. We encountered a very tiny bit of rain later in the day, but it was really just a few drops.
We were really impressed with our hosts and their beautiful home and would love to have the chance to stay with them again one day. They were very apologetic about not being able to prepare us an evening meal and we had read rave reviews about their meals in the guest book, so that has made us curious enough to make a return visit one day. Also, the Banks Peninsula, itself, looks like a really fun area to explore, with lots of different hiking trails and bays to investigate.
We had heard and read about a couple of different bird sanctuaries or reserves in the area, so when we set out towards Christchurch, we stopped at the first such place we encountered. It was called the Birdlands Sanctuary, near Little River, and was the hugest disappointment of this trip. Many of the birds seemed to be poorly cared for, as indicated by their bald patches, tatty feathers and general overall appearance. Many were overly aggressive towards us, knowing from experience that we would have food, and this made us wonder how often they were actually fed by the owners. Most of the aviaries were dark and dingy and we both felt the place was appallingly maintained and very depressing. We didn't stay long and are actually contemplating writing a letter to the New Zealand equivalent of the RSPB or SPCA about what we saw and how it made us feel. To any of you who might contemplate a visit to New Zealand one day, we strongly suggest avoiding this place!
We beat a hasty retreat from here to Christchurch and felt much better seeing hundreds of wetland birds just where they belonged - in the wild - along the way. We had no problem finding our way into the centre of the city or getting a free parking spot! We had a nice little stroll around a mall section of the inner core and did a bit of shopping - mainly for more film and batteries for Kathryn's well-used camera. There was a lovely little park beside where we had left the car, so we enjoyed a light alfresco lunch on a park bench.
We may only seem to be 'scratching the surface' of the cities we've passed through on this trip, but the time we have spent in them has always been enough to tell us whether we like the place or not. We couldn't get away from Invercargill fast enough, but we quite enjoyed Dunedin and liked what we saw of Christchurch. There is far too much beautiful and spectacular scenery to investigate in this country, so cities really aren't all that important to us.
State Highway 1 out of Christchurch took us past the Willowbank Wildlife Reserve which includes a kiwi house. We could tell immediately that this was a professionally run business, and since we were still keen to see a kiwi, we gladly paid the entrance fee. In the end, we didn't actually see a kiwi because they were all sleeping. However, we did finally get to meet some kea's (the car eating mountain parrots!), and various cute animals including otters and deer which fed from our hands.
We then continued north to Kaikoura with one brief stop to buy some food and petrol. Initially the road was flat and straight but as we got closer to the Kaikoura mountains, it became much more interesting. Kaikoura itself has the most wonderful views across the bay with the mountains soaring up straight out of the sea. When we arrived there were lots of interesting low level clouds among the peaks, and we may have captured the mood on film.
We are staying at the Blue Seas Motel which is right on the beach, and Kathryn managed to barter us into the best room in the motel at a good discount. It is new, very clean, well equipped including a nice large spa bath and has a fantastic view. This has gone straight to Number One in our motel ratings!
Yo Ho Blow the Man Down!
The plan for today had been to go whale watching, but when we heard the weather forecast yesterday evening, and Kathryn phoned Whale Watch, we soon realised that we were going to be in for a stormy night and that no boats would be going out today. Neither us were quite prepared for the strength of the storm which kept us both awake for most of the night, as bits of tree and who knows what else rattled off our corrugated metal roof. The noise of the wind and the crashing surf only 30m away was almost deafening at times, and in the darkness we wondered if the roof was going to suddenly disappear or the large windows would cave in. We're delighted to say that nothing like that happened to us, although we have seen one broken window, one phone box with the door torn off and huge amounts of debris from trees and seaweed strewn all over the road.
Sunrise was spectacular, not least because we could see the sun! Very quickly, areas of blue sky started to appear, and then gradually during the morning the wind began to drop. Tom was the first to venture outside having dug out jeans and a warm shirt, and was stunned to find that it was the hottest day we've had since we left the North Island. He quickly changed back to shorts and T-shirt. After a light breakfast we walked around the bay into the main town which is quite small and compact, and found a cafe for our usual coffee fix. We found the Whale Watch office, and have booked to go on the trip tomorrow morning when the weather will hopefully be much better behaved. We eventually circled back to the motel and freshened up having had a good blast of salt air and a lot of sun.
We then hopped into the car and went in search of somewhere selling crayfish. After a little bit of searching we found a really nice restaurant situated on State Highway 1, which is the main road running from the most northerly to the most southerly tip of New Zealand. Can you imagine sitting outside on a deck, 10m from the M1 Motorway or Trans Canada Highway eating crayfish without a hint of traffic fumes or pollution? We ordered a whole crayfish and salad each, and spent well over an hour enjoying them and talking to an English couple on the next table, and we would estimate that no more than two dozen vehicles came past, all sticking to the 50kph speed limit!
During the afternoon the wind picked up again but with nothing like the strength it was during the night. We went for another short stroll from our motel, sat outside and soaked up the view and a few more rays, and generally thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. It's tough down here, you know!
Spurting and slurping!
We awoke, and decided that this was a promising start to the day! The sky was clear, the sea was calm and the sunrise looked great, so we quickly packed the car and drove around the bay to the Whale Watch office at the Whaleway Station - yes it is at the railway station, and that is what the sign says it's called! Our mood immediately turned from excited to anxious when we were told that they were waiting for a situation report from one of the boats before they knew if the trips were going to be running. Although conditions on shore were perfect, it could easily be different further out to sea, and they were expecting strong winds later in the day, so all we could do was hope for the best. We had 30 minutes to kill, so we walked back into town, grabbed a quick coffee and walked back again, each silently wishing for one more bit of good luck with the weather.
The trip was on, and the mood switched back to excitement! After paying for the ticket and watching a short safety video, the 40 or so passengers due to go out on the Makawhiu boarded a coach for the 8 minute trip to South Bay on the south side of the Kaikoura peninsula. Much to our surprise, the Makawhiu was waiting for us in the car park on a trailer! She is a Cougar Wildcat catamaran powered by jets and can very quickly accelerate to 24 knots which is ideal for a rapid response when a whale is spotted. We were given a final quick briefing by one of the crew, and then it was All Aboard up the trailer steps! Having been quick on our feet, we were among the 14 people allowed on the upper deck.
We were then reversed in a rather undignified fashion down the boat ramp until the Makawhiu floated free. It took just 10 minutes to reach the area where the whales are found, and now is probably the right time to explain why the whales are here throughout most of the year. Sperm whales require very deep water and regularly dive to depths of some 2500m - 3000m. Just a few kilometres offshore from Kaikoura, the sea bottom suddenly dives to this sort of depth. The area is also very rich in sea-life, at all levels of the food chain, and so is naturally an ideal place for male sperm whales to live while they mature. According to the commentary we were given, the females are off sunning themselves somewhere even warmer!
The 13-18m long whales surface and float almost motionless on the surface for around 10-15 minutes while they replenish their oxygen supply and dispose of waste material. Watch out below! During this time they blow lots of the famous whale spouts and this is how they are usually located. Because they are always found in such a well defined area, the Whale Watch boats can power over to a whale and you have lots of time to observe the majestic creatures from about 100m away.
Once it is 'refuelled' the whale can dive for anything from 30 minutes to 2 1/2 hours. When it starts to dive, it will always go through the same sequence, so we quickly learnt what to expect. It starts to move forwards, making one very shallow dive, comes up for a final breath, the head goes down, the back arches and then the huge tail slowly raises up, straightens and gracefully slides under the surface leaving hardly a ripple. We cannot describe adequately in words how huge and powerful these animals are while also being incredibly serene and graceful. We're sure you've all seen it on TV several times, but to see it with your own eyes is an unforgettable and moving experience.
We had about 5 or 6 really good views plus a couple of more distant ones, and then we were told that we were heading south to go and see some Dusky Dolphins. After a short high speed dash we spotted the first dolphins and in no time we had a dozen or so speeding along beside the boat. We thought this was great until we suddenly saw that ahead of the boat the sea was boiling with what turned out to be several hundred dolphins. Once we were in amongst them, they played all around us. The water is so clean that we could watch them shooting under the boat as well as performing the most amazing acrobatics just a few feet away.
Neither of us had any idea that this was included in the trip, and what a great bonus. We could hear the dolphins calling, and the only problem was how to take photos because there were so many of them and they moved so fast, but we both think we may have ended up with a few good shots. After enjoying them for around 15 minutes, it was time to head back to base through the whale area, and we managed one more close encounter and one more distant whale sighting. We were at sea for a little over 2 hours, and we were finally steered back onto our trailer with a bit of a bump, and towed back onto dry land where we disembarked.
We were herded back on the bus for the return trip and neither of us could resist (yet again) the urge to splash out on a shirt, as well as a postcard or two.
After one final snoop around Kaikoura, we picked up a couple of sandwiches and headed off to find a nice viewpoint where we could enjoy them. Just a few minutes north of the town, we found a bit of secluded beach and parked ourselves on a huge piece of driftwood (actually it was a tree) so that we could savour the view while we ate.
From there we set out along the coast road to Blenheim, taking our time to enjoy the beautiful day and scenery along the way. Suddenly the car swerved off the road and came to rest in front of a caravan. The woman inside explained that the only cure for this was to buy her fresh crayfish, so we purchased a couple to have for supper, and then happily drove on down the road!
Blenheim is pretty much the heart of the Marlborough wine district, so we passed several vineyards on our way in. After we had settled into our room we set off - armed with a winery map - to do some tastings. We had been told to check out the Allan Scott and Hunters wineries and spotted on our map that the former was not too far from us. There was one other we had seen on the map, which sounded a bit interesting, so we decided to try both. We were able to enjoy a nice selection from each winery and even picked up a couple of bottles - one to have with supper.
We did a complete repack of our 'worldly goods' before sitting down to mangle crayfish. We had to get ourselves organised in advance, as we turn in our rental car on this side tomorrow before heading to the North Island.
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