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| Fur seals, Kaikoura |
By the time we left Nelson, my back was just starting to get a little better, and I could hobble along with my stick for a much improved fifty metres or so! Our car, however, wasn't doing quite so well.
We had noticed a little noise, which we couldn't work out where it was coming from. That noise was getting worse, and by the end of our drive to Kaikoura, we had discovered that the problem was a section of the bottom trim hanging down underneath the car. We contacted the company, and they agreed to swap it out when we passed through Christchurch on our next leg. We used Jucy, by the way, and we were very happy with the cars and the service.
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| Kaikoura |
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| Kaikoura |
Aside from the noises, the drive to Kaikoura was quite a pleasant one. That is the nice thing about driving in New Zealand, in most places there isn't too much traffic, and the scenery is good to look at. We wound our way back through the hills and along the coast, and eventually got close to the town, to be greeted by a beautiful sight of blue skies and seas, white capped mountains and green hills. It really did look like a postcard - just a shame that there was nowhere safe to stop to take a photo.
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| Kaikoura |
We did however, make a brief pause at the coast before town, to watch the fur seals basking on the rocks and playing in the shallow pools of water.
Now if I'm honest, I would have to struggle to find anything interesting or especially positive to say about the town of Kaikoura, with the possible exception of a good little cheese shop. But Kaikoura isn't really about the town, it is about the setting that the town is in, and the inhabitants of the ocean that it is next to.
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| Sperm Whale 1, Kaikoura |
I have already mentioned that the scenery around Kaikoura is pretty, but the most important thing here is something that you can't see - The Dropoff. Kaikoura is an unusual spot in that only about a mile offshore, the same movement of the earth's plates that created those pretty mountains, also created a huge chasm in the sea bed.
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| Sperm Whale 1, Kaikoura |
The Kaikoura Canyon drops to a depth of about 1000m, which is nothing compared to the 10,000m that the Kermadec Trench that it eventually joins up with reaches, but is none the less, very deep and quite unusual so close to land.
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| Sperm Whale 1, Kaikoura |
It is this drop off that attracts the sperm whales. These are huge creatures, the largest of the 'toothed' whales, typically around 55 foot long, but can be up to about 67 foot. They dive very deep for their food, as are mainly on the hunt for giant squid. They have been recorded diving as low as 9,000 feet, and they stay down for up to an hour and a half.
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| Sperm Whale 1, Kaikoura |
So Kaikoura is one of easiest places to spot sperm whales, as there are usually males feeding here before heading off to the breeding grounds. Of course, when they only surface for around ten minutes, and then disappear for ninety, there are still no guarantees.
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| Sperm Whale 1, Kaikoura |
We decided to double our chances, and booked both a helicopter trip, with Kaikoura Helicopters, and a boat trip with Whale Watch Kaikoura. Both were excellent and well worth doing.
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| Sperm Whale 1, Kaikoura |
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| Sperm Whale 1, Kaikoura |
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| Sperm Whale 2, Kaikoura |
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| Sperm Whale 2, Kaikoura |
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| Sperm Whale 2, Kaikoura |
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| Sperm Whale 2, Kaikoura |
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| Sperm Whale 2, Kaikoura |
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| Humpbacks, Kaikoura |
We had to cancel the boat trip we had booked as the weather was rough, and they advised me that, with my back as it was, it was best not to go out. Happily though, they had space on another trip, and that one worked out fine. Nic was pleased too as he gets seasick, so wasn't too keen on the idea of choppy waters.
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| Humpbacks, Kaikoura |
The helicopter gives you the best chance of finding them in the time you have, and enabled you to see the whole body from above, so that you can see just how huge it is. We managed to spot two while we were up, which we were pretty happy with, and then for good measure we saw a couple of humpbacks on the way back, closer to shore.
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| Humpbacks, Kaikoura |
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| Humpbacks, Kaikoura |
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| Humpbacks, Kaikoura |
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| Humpbacks, Kaikoura |
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| Humpbacks, Kaikoura |
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| Humpbacks, Kaikoura |
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| Sperm Whale 3, Kaikoura |
The obvious advantage of the boat trip is that you get closer. Not too close of course, they respect all of the guidelines that protect the whale, but enough to get a feel for it's size and power, even at a distance. We had started to think we weren't going to spot one on this trip though. we hadn't found one, and the one that they knew was around had started its last dive around the start of the trip, so we weren't sure if it would come back up in time.
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| Sperm Whale 3, Kaikoura |
Happily for us all, it did, and we had time to watch the whale swim along for a while, replenishing its oxygen supplies and relaxing for a bit, before it flipped its tail fluke and disappeared again.
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| Sperm Whale 3, Kaikoura |
This isn't such an entertaining viewing as you have with the humpbacks, because they don't do anything flashy like slap the water with their fins or breach out completely, but if you like seeing wildlife, it is an excellent experience in its own right.
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| Sperm Whale 3, Kaikoura |
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| Sperm Whale 3, Kaikoura |
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| Sperm Whale 3, Kaikoura |
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| Sperm Whale 3, Kaikoura |
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| Sperm Whale 3, Kaikoura |
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| Sperm Whale 3, Kaikoura |
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| Sperm Whale 3, Kaikoura |
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