Whale watching in Kaikoura
After getting up nice and early, I joined the Kiwi Experience tour going north from Christchurch. Our driver, Smooch (wouldn't tell us why he was so called, but claimed he would show one of the girls!), was friendly enough, talking about stuff as we passed. Distances in New Zealand haven't seemed so bad yet, and we reach Kaikoura fairly quickly, with a short stop on the way.
Kaikoura (meaning eat crayfish) is a town originally built around fishing & whaling, but with a fairly large tourist industry now for whale watching, dolphin swimming and seal swimming. Our bus driver took us to a small seal colony when we first got there so we could take some pictures of seals basking in the sun on the rocks.
We then went to out hostel, Top Spot, showing me that the previous hostel was actually a bit crap! After settling in and a short trip into town for some food & money, we were taken to the Whale watching center. On being told at the start that the average number of whales seen on a trip is 1-2, I was immediately thinking that I had been a bit ripped off! However, it turned out to be a lot better than that, seeing 7 or 8, most of them sitting in twos. Some of them gave us the classic fin photos, with others just disappearing below the surface. There were also a number of albatrosses flying around. I was a bit disappointed not to see any dolphins on the way, but I guess I'll do that another time.
After getting back from the Whale watching, we had a BBQ back at the hostel, sitting around chatting to the others in my group, before heading down to a bar to play some pool. It would seem from looking at the photos of one of the girls that the dolphin swimming would've been a better time than the whale watching, so I'll have to make sure I do that somewhere else.
The next day, we got to have a lie in (certain people were more in need of this than others!), before heading off to Picton to get the ferry across to Wellington. The views from the ferry were spectacular, but as we got towards Wellington, reasons for its nickname Windy Wellington became very obvious! Upon getting to Wellington, it quickly became obvious that I had never seen a city more full of kevved up cars - silly big exhausts, alloys, excess gauges etc than ever before! Anyway, I'm going to walk around Wellington today, before heading up to Taupo tomorrow.
Kaikoura (meaning eat crayfish) is a town originally built around fishing & whaling, but with a fairly large tourist industry now for whale watching, dolphin swimming and seal swimming. Our bus driver took us to a small seal colony when we first got there so we could take some pictures of seals basking in the sun on the rocks.We then went to out hostel, Top Spot, showing me that the previous hostel was actually a bit crap! After settling in and a short trip into town for some food & money, we were taken to the Whale watching center. On being told at the start that the average number of whales seen on a trip is 1-2, I was immediately thinking that I had been a bit ripped off! However, it turned out to be a lot better than that, seeing 7 or 8, most of them sitting in twos. Some of them gave us the classic fin photos, with others just disappearing below the surface. There were also a number of albatrosses flying around. I was a bit disappointed not to see any dolphins on the way, but I guess I'll do that another time.
After getting back from the Whale watching, we had a BBQ back at the hostel, sitting around chatting to the others in my group, before heading down to a bar to play some pool. It would seem from looking at the photos of one of the girls that the dolphin swimming would've been a better time than the whale watching, so I'll have to make sure I do that somewhere else.
The next day, we got to have a lie in (certain people were more in need of this than others!), before heading off to Picton to get the ferry across to Wellington. The views from the ferry were spectacular, but as we got towards Wellington, reasons for its nickname Windy Wellington became very obvious! Upon getting to Wellington, it quickly became obvious that I had never seen a city more full of kevved up cars - silly big exhausts, alloys, excess gauges etc than ever before! Anyway, I'm going to walk around Wellington today, before heading up to Taupo tomorrow.
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