Kaikoura - with two kinds of whale

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.

Kaikoura

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Sperm Whale 1, Kaikoura

Sperm Whale 1, Kaikoura

Sperm Whale 2, Kaikoura

Sperm Whale 2, Kaikoura

Sperm Whale 2, Kaikoura

Sperm Whale 2, Kaikoura

Sperm Whale 2, Kaikoura

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.

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.

Humpbacks, Kaikoura

Humpbacks, Kaikoura

Humpbacks, Kaikoura

Humpbacks, Kaikoura

Humpbacks, Kaikoura

Humpbacks, Kaikoura

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.

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.

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.

Sperm Whale 3, Kaikoura

Sperm Whale 3, Kaikoura

Sperm Whale 3, Kaikoura

Sperm Whale 3, Kaikoura

Sperm Whale 3, Kaikoura

Sperm Whale 3, Kaikoura

Sperm Whale 3, Kaikoura

Uluru and Kata Tjuta - A bird's eye view

Uluru

One of the things that we decided to do here was to take a helicopter flight over the National Park. Unusually, we opted for another early morning, to do the sunrise flight.

When we arrived, there were six people, and we got allocated the little helicopter, while the other four shared the big one. We had chosen the flight that went around Uluru, and then on towards, but not around Kata Tjuta (also known as The Olgas); we would have quite liked to have gone around that too, but it was somewhat more expensive.

Uluru and the Ayers Rock Resort

Safely buckled in, and with our headphones one, we watched the other helicopter take off and waited to do the same. And waited. And waited. Despite repeated tries, the pilot couldn't get the helicopter started, and eventually, the number of attempts was draining the battery too low. Oh dear.

Uluru

They were very apologetic, but of course, with the other helicopter already in use, there wasn't much they could do. And as the sun rose, our sunrise flight was no longer possible today. They did offer us various options: we could cancel and have a refund; reschedule for another day - which luckily was still a possibility for us; or we could wait for the other one to come back, and go up in that, without the sunrise.

Uluru

Having seen the sunrise on Uluru before, we opted to wait, and still go up this day. When the other group got back, they had enjoyed their trip, but hadn't felt that the sunrise added that much to it, so we were happy that this was a good decision.

Uluru

In fact, it all worked out quite nicely because, as the sunrise flight was a bit more expensive, and we'd had to wait to go up, they upgraded our flight to the one that went right around Kata Tjuta. This was great, because having done it, we think that including the full Kata Tjuta flight is well worth it, as you get a very different perspective on the rocks.

Kata Tjuta

Kata Tjuta

Kata Tjuta

Kata Tjuta

Kata Tjuta

Kata Tjuta

Kata Tjuta

Kata Tjuta

Deception Island

When Delphine gave us our briefing about what we would be doing today, we were a bit taken aback to hear that we would be having to get up at the crack of dawn.



We had known that we would be coming to Deception Island in the South Shetland Islands, and that it was worth being on deck to watch the arrival, but we hadn't expected it to be so early.

But she had explained her reasons, and we were all convinced that it would be worth it.

So it was that we were on deck, at 6am in the cold mist of the early morning, to see Ortelius make its cautious way through Neptune's Bellows. Deception Island is in fact a volcano. Not an island with a volcano on it, just the tip of a very large volcano sticking up out of the ocean.

And it is an active volcano that is overdue an eruption. Though we were assured that there are plenty of devices measuring activity so there should be good warning for us to escape to a safe distance.

In a previous eruption, many many years ago, a small section of the wall of the volcano collapsed, allowing the sea to flow into the crater, or caldera.

Ships can sail in through this narrow 255m gap, called Neptune's Bellows, but have to be very careful of Ravn Rock which sits just beneath the water and has claimed ships in the past.

The volcano is huge.  The diameter of the caldera is an enormous 15km.  And it is somewhat surreal to be sailing into the heart of an active volcano, but be surrounded by ice and snow.

The captain navigated his way through the bellows, pushing the ice out of our way as we went, and we were soon safely approaching the old whaling station where there was a pre breakfast landing scheduled.


And for those who were crazy enough, this was also the opportunity to take a polar plunge - not usually so much a swim in the antarctic seas as a quick dash in and out.



We took a look at the weather - snowy, misty and cold - and decided that as we had no intention of getting in the water, there were no penguins here, we had done similar before, and we could get a long range view of the whaling station from the warmth of the ship, we would skip this landing and get in early to a leisurely breakfast instead.

When everyone was back on board having breakfast after the short landing, the ship moved to a different position in the caldera, and pushed its way into some of the sea ice.

From here, Delphine had arranged with the helicopter pilots that we would all be taken up for a short flight around the top of the caldera, to get a birds eye view of this unique island.

This is not something that the trips usually offer, so it was a great opportunity, and why we all forgave Delphine the 5:45am wake up call.  The mist had by this time lifted a bit, so although visibility wasn't amazing, it was good enough to get a fabulous view of the volcano.

As we passed over rim and looked out across the vast expanse of the crater, we could only just about make out the tiny form of our ship, wedged into the ice, which gave us some perspective on just how big the caldera is.  you can just about see it on the very left side of this photo, about half way up. It was a great extra to the trip and we all enjoyed it.

Back on ship, they had lowered the gangways either side, and we were able to get down on to the sea ice and walk around.  With no wildlife to look at and no science stations to visit, this felt a bit like when the schools close due to snow and everyone just goes out to play.

The type of snow doesn't really make good snowballs we discovered, but people were making snow angels and posing for silly photos, and just generally having a bit of fun in the snow.

One of the silly photo opportunities came about when the crew lowered the front mooring line over the side of the ship.  Of course it was ridiculous to think that people would take photos of each other with this huge rope in hand pretending to pull the ship; but we still all did it!  And we also all got together for a big group photo in front of Ortelius.



All in all we had a good morning on Deception Island, and were definitely ready for our lunch.