Whales!

Trip Start Aug 24, 2008
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Trip End Jul 07, 2009


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Flag of New Zealand  , South Island,
Thursday, June 18, 2009

We left Picton and drove high up, with great views over the sounds, into the forest. The road turned to gravel and it was just us and the logging trucks. We had some lovely views down into little coves, and the further we got from Picton, the more exposed the land became, and the waves became higher and rougher. It was very rugged and wild. Eventually we turned a corner into a town, and paved road. We drove along the coast and through endless vineyard, to Blenheim. We carried on along the coast, passing beaches and cliffs, to Kaikoura. The wind was howling, the waves were high and the seals didn't seem to care. We had snow-covered mountains on one side and sea on the other. I have never seen mountains so close to the sea. We admired the seals, who all looked at us like we were mad, and then it started to snow. Snow! By the sea! The seals were not bothered but we were freezing so we pressed on to Kaikoura., stopping for lunch at a fish and chip shop. Kaikoura is by the beach and surrounded by mountains View from the forest
View from the forest
 . It was very pretty. We went to ask about whale watching and they told us the waves are too high. So we checked into a hostel, went to the supermarket, made some dinner and played with the incredibly fluffy cat., hoping that we can go whale watching tomorrow.

The next day we checked out and drove down to the penninsula, where we admired the sleeping seals. We walked up to a viewpoint on the top of a cliff, where we had a fabulous view of the seals, the rocks, the foamy sea and the whole coastline including the black beaches surrounded by snow-capped mountains. The sky was blue and the sun was shining so we decided to go for a walk along the cliff tops. We followed the path, which went precariously close to the edge, through fields and past sheer drops with the raging sea below. The rocks were dotted with sleeping seals. It was so pretty that we could have stood up there all day but we had to go to the whale-watching office to see if our trip was going ahead. We got close to some seals at the bottom of the cliff. They love to pose with their noses in the air, so we took some photos. Unfortunately our whale-watching trip was cancelled, even though the sea looked fine to us. We drove back to the penninsula and ate our lunch in the car so that the seagulls couldn't get it. We returned to the cliff top walk from the morning and walked the whole way across the penninsula to the other side with some wonderful views of the rugged coastline and lots of marine birds Coming into Blenheim
Coming into Blenheim
 . We had to hike up a hill through a field full of cows which was tiring, and we scared the cows a bit and they all ran off. On the way back we stopped off for hot chocolate and cheesecake and then we made our own burgers for dinner.

In the morning I sat eating my cereal with a view over the blue sea as far as I could see in one direction, and the snow-covered mountains in the other. It was so pretty, and I had a fluffy cat to play with, although I think she wanted the milk. After breakfast we went down to the whale watching office and the trip was on! We watched a video about whales and then got a bus to the boat on the other side of the penninsula. The sea was a bit choppy, but hardly rough, but all the Asians were throwing up within 5 minutes. Lovely! It wasn't long before a sperm whale was spotted. We could see the spurt from its blow hole, its head, and its dorsal fin as it swam along. We watched it for about 10 minutes and then it showed us its tail before diving deep underwater. Overall we saw 6 whales, all sperm whales. Two were swimming side by side (quite rare) and one we managed to see its whole body when it got lifted up in a wave. It was huge! I thought it was wonderful to see sperm whales in the wild. When we got back to Kaikoura we ate lunch. Afterwards we drove through golden forest, snowy mountains, crystal-clear blue rivers and snow to Hanmer Springs.
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