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Published: March 6th 2011
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Hello again. It was sunny and warm when I arrived in Kaikoura, I knew my accommodation was self catering and out of town so I went to the supermarket to get some provisions. The guy who owned the accommodation came to pick me up and I was impressed when he showed me to my apartment. It was sooooooo peaceful and quiet - just what I needed to recharge my batteries. After a good night's sleep I was ready for a day of action! I borrowed the owner's bicycle seeing as I was out of town. Now it's been some years since I rode a bike and it took a while for me to get into the swing of it as I rode along the main east coast highway! He had given me some directions to get me into town avoiding the highway and I thought I'd remembered his instructions but I was wrong. I ended up on a walkers path going up a mountain, which was fine because I just pushed the bike. However, what goes up must come down and to make it easier for walkers the path turned into steps on the really steep bits. It's not easy carrying
a bike down steep, narrow steps. and as if that wasn't traumatic enough the chain came off. Anyway I couldn't turn back so I carried on and eventually got to the bottom! I had booked a whale watching trip (this was the main reason for me coming to Kaikoura) but when I got to the Whaleway station (no - I'm not joking, that's what it is called!) the trip before mine was canceled due to bad weather and so was mine! Now under normal circumstances I would have been devastated but because of the Christchurch earthquake I couldn't stay in Christchurch as planned and luckily I had been able to stay an extra day and night in Kaikoura which I'd only arranged that morning. So I booked myself on a trip the following day. Now the dilemma was what to do with my afternoon. I decided that as I had use of the bike I would cycle to the peninsula to see the seal colony. Anyone who has ridden a bike after years of non-bike riding will know that it doesn't take long to get saddle sore! But with a sore bottom, legs that felt like lead and a head
wind that seemed to change according to which direction I was going in I battled on and it was truly worth it to see the seals. I managed to make it back to my apartment just before it poured with rain and have never been more pleased to see a spa bath!
Another good night's sleep and it was the day of my whale watching trip. The weather didn't look too bad and I was hopeful. I had a good breakfast in town and headed to the Whaleway station again (no bike this time - I got a cab into town!). This time we were in luck but they did warn us about a 1.5m swell and the chances of seasickness. I decided to risk my luck and hope that if I could survive the trip to the barrier reef I would make it out to see the whales. It was a really fun trip - we seemed to be going against the tide and we really felt the 1.5m swell! I just got the giggles again - it was like being on a fairground ride. Not far away from shore I saw a seal swimming near the boat
and diving in and out of the water. I couldn't take a photo though cos the boat was travelling quite fast - the whales can be as far as 8 miles out so it needs to be able to travel fast to where they are. The guys on the boat said that quite often you only get one whale sighting but the last couple of days had seen a couple of sightings per trip. I can't describe the excitement when I saw my first whale. They are male sperm whales that come to the coast of Kaikoura for feeding You see the blowholes first in the distance - unfortunately by the time we got there it had dived under and we searched round for another one. We spent around 2 hours out at sea and we were lucky enough to have 10 sightings (4 of which had dived by the time we got there but I saw 10 whales!). So I saw 6 whales properly - they surface for about 5 minutes before diving for a feed - amazing! I'm going to try and upload some video footage for you. I think I smiled for the whole 2 hours. We
also saw the breed of albatross that is the largest flying bird in the world - it's difficult to imagine how huge they are - photos don't do them justice because you need something else in the photo to help with perspective. Not that I could take any photos of them - the combination of them moving and the boat moving made it impossible. So we headed back to shore and I was a very happy girl. I decided to take a walk round the peninsular, up on the cliff face - some amazing sights and I swear I smiled the whole way round - this place makes me happy. I walked back to my apartment and the guy there told me I'd walked about 13 miles! I'm now only 5"2" I've done so much walking!
Anyway my time in Kaikoura was up and I have so many brilliant memories to take away with me. Heading off to Christchurch airport to pick up my tour but don't worry - we aren't staying in Christchurch - we are starting the tour in Greymouth instead. Bye for now......
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