Happy Anniversary ... I think ....

Trip Start Dec 28, 2006
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Trip End Dec 2007


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Flag of New Zealand  ,
Wednesday, June 20, 2007

This day saw us going further up the coast to Kaikoura.  The drive was uneventful and it only took about 2 1/2 hours to reach the sea-side village.  The reason for coming here was to take a whale-watching tour (everything in Kaikoura revolves around the sea) so we booked that and then found ourselves somewhere to stay for the night.  Sorted as we were we drove out to the Kaikoura peninsula and went for a walk along the cliff tops and, after climbing down, back along the rocky shore.We saw a few seals lounging on the rocks just a few meters from where we were and when we got back to the car we were able to sit there and watch them as they played in the shallow water.  One even came up and waddled around the car-park.  After a while we saw 6 or 7 people hassling a few seals who were resting (the people were getting way too close and jumping around and pushing each other towards the seals which upset them) so T went down and sorted them out.  They all left after that and the seals could get back to some extreme lounging 01 - Cliff walk
01 - Cliff walk
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We were both so excited about the whale watching tour.  It was one of the things we had been looking forward to since we were back at home in Belfast planning the trip.  We didn't worry too much when they said it could be a little rough - they obviously didn't know we'd survived 11m waves on the Drake Passage on our way to Antarctica.  We don't like to brag so we didn't mention this but just smugly smiled and said we were sure we'd be fine.  One hour later we were both bent over double with the excitement of seeing our breakfast for the second time as the boat rode up 2m waves and came crashing down again with great force.  The gentle rocking action when the boat stopped wasn't exactly pleasant either so we basically spent the 2 1/2 hour trip wishing we were back on dry land or dead.  Brave Sara managed to get 2 pictures of a sperm whale which kindly positioned itself just outside her window.  It was huge and stayed there for about 10mins patiently waiting for us to come outside but alas we had a prior engagement with two small white paper bags.  Another whale appeared on the other side of the boat shortly after, he didn't stand a chance.

Eventually we got back to shore where the rest of the day was spent recovering.  Incidentally it was our second winter solstice as a married couple in 6 months.  Happy anniversary darling!
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