Kaikoura,
New Zealand
Thursday, March 22, 2007
Yesterday we traveled down to Kaikoura on the east coast of New Zealand, south island. Strangely Dan met someone he knew from university (Pete), so we spent the evening with them at a pub quiz in a pub across the road from our hostel. Today was the reason we came to Kaikoura, we went Whale watching! Kaikoura is ideal for whale watching, the best place in New Zealand because about one kilometer offshore the coastal shallows plummet into the Kaikoura Canyon (about 1000m deep!) so there is loads of marine life, especially marine mammals. This morning we took a catamaran about 5 mile offshore & saw Sperms Whales, Dusky Dolphins, New Zealand Fur Seal & Albatross. There was a Orca (Killer whale) sighting yesterday & they also get migrating Humpbacks (June/July). Got a few good pictures & Dan took a video, so we'll show you that when we return home. An unforgettable experience! This afternoon we went to a seal colony, about a 5 minute drive out of town. Quite a few seals louging about on the rocks & a few swimming
Dusky Dolphin
. Got lots of good pictures.
Hi its Dan!! Really strange seeing Pete as I haven't seen him for about 3 or 4 years and I'm in New Zealand, anyway really good to see him and we had a good night at the quiz.
The boat trip was really good and Lucy wasn't sea sick (as she took some tablets) which was a bonus! The whales were massive and are the 4th largest whale in the world. The dolphins were showing off when we pulled up along side them, jumping out of the water alot. We were lucky enough to see a Fur Seal feeding out at sea. Pretty amazing and bizarre day!!
