Through Arthur's Pass and Kaikoura

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Trans Alpine Railway and Kaikoura.

We left Franz Joseph by 0900 hours after collecting the video of the Kayak session. Our aim was to get to Greymouth by 1300 hrs. On the way we stopped at a few view points to see some waterfalls, a bridge where you could get a magnificent view of the snow capped moutains, and again at a sea side supposed to be a surfers paradise (only a couple of people surfing). Again the scenery on the way was unbelievably beautiful, I keep repeating that, between the mountains, rivers and the rain forest. Then we stopped at a small seaside town, Hokitika, famous for works in jade and we had a chance to see the craftsmen at work. Some of the group bought small items as souvenirs which were symbols of Maori carved in jade. I found these too expensive though of a better quality with comparative products.

We got to Greymouth in time. The train line to Arther's Pass was closed for maintenance and we had to take a bus to Arther's Pass and then take the train while our luggage traveled in the coach to Christchurch.

They did not want to transfer the luggage, would rather incur the extra cost of running the bus all the way up and down. There was a lot of hugging and crying with girls in the group, some of them were on the bus for 20 days (this was a 24 day tour) together.

Those leaving were told that it was better to take the initial stretch of the journey by bus as otherwise we would miss most of the stunning scenery as there are too many tunnels by the rail. They were right as in the second hour of the two hour journey to Arther's pass we were treated to some spectacular scenery I have ever seen. At Arther's Pass we got the train, a modern train with 2 diesel engines whose sole purpose is to serve the tourists. For about 2 hours the train passed through a lot of tunnels (more than 12 I counted) and some fascinating bridge over canyons. The railway line was running by the side of the mountains. By the time we got to Spring Field the mountains had all but disappeared and the terrain changed to Canterbury "plains". At Christchurch station there was our baggage and a shuttle waiting for us to take us to Haka lodge. Burto, our tour manager had arranged everything including the trip to Kaikoura.

I had to get a shuttle early at 0615 hours to get to the tour bus stop for my trip to Kaikoura which was my next stop for whale watching tour. It was again a fantastic journey with the early Sun painting the snow covered mountains and the sea-surf almost pink. After the first hour most of the journey was again negotiating a way through the side of the mountains or running along the seaside, sometimes by little rocky coves or sandy beaches. We got to Kaikoura before 1000 hrs. I had little to do for the day so, finished some of the blog and published it, had lunch in the town took long walks to familiarise with the town itself. I had looked at the possibility of playing a round of golf in the only golf club in Kaikoura but decided against it when I saw the prices. Kaikoura is a sleepy but beautiful town saved from oblivion by the success of the whale watch program. On the north side there is a range of mountains with snow on top slopping into the sea.

All had assembled at the Whale Watch briefing room by 1030 hrs, we were given a security briefing and was taken to the boat station which was 5km from the town. In the the last 15 years since the start whale watching in Kaikoura has grown into a crowd puller and a success story. I met quite a few who had done this before and was back for a second or third time. Again as with all wild animals sighting a whale is not guaranteed in every trip. But now they have enough experience and technology to make it happen more often. Around this area the cold Southern Ocean currents meet the warm currents in the Pacific to create an area rich in plankton fish and other sea organisms on which the whales feed on. The other factor is short continental shelf which drops to over 1000m only a couple of miles from the sea shore. This makes it ideal for whales who dive deep and feed on the organisms in the depths. It also means the boats do not have to travel far out to the sea looking for whales.

On our trip we saw more than 10 sperm whales. At first you only see something like a large tree trunk with a fin on it as most of body is submerged in the water. They are easily detected by the plume they generate through their blow holes. As a rule they do not arch when they dive so that we do not have the tail in air as we see in most movies or nature programs. But one of the whales did that and I nearly missed it (see photo). Soon it was time to get back to shore. It was a beautiful day with not a speck of cloud in the sky. The sea was not too disturbed but there was good swell rolling in from the East. The 30m catamaran handled it well and most of the time we were traveling at over 70km/hour. Passengers had to stay in their seats as it was too dangerous to be on the decks.

Took the 1600hrs bus to Christchurch. Have get up early to catch the 0700hrs flight to Sydney tomorrow.

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