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Published: February 21st 2007
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The weather is beautiful this morning with little wind so we are confident the whale watch cruise will go ahead today even though it rained all night.
Had a good breakfast (included in the room price) before driving the short distance into Kaikoura, when we arrived at the Whale Watch place we were told the tour would leave around 10.30am so we went to check out a seal colony down the coast.
First thing we saw was a fur seal sunning itself on the edge of the car park, how good was this? So we start tramping over the rocks looking for more, ofcourse there were no more but we did find a lost and bedraggled fairy penguin. On the way back to the car park we saw the first seal again it was much more animated then before and took offense to an old american woman and started chasing her around in an attempt to chastise her for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. It was hilarious you should have seen that woman run, she screamed like banshee.
We got back to the whale watch place just on 10 and were told there was
Great Irish Pub
Many pints consumed this night a big swell out there today so heaps of people Ruth included started popping sea sickness pills at $2 a pop, didnt help them much LOL, as many were puking in chuck bags later anyway. Ruth managed to keep her guts down but she looked pretty green towards the end, to be fair I was feeling a wee bit off myself.
47 of us loaded onto a bus and were taken to the wharf where we boarded a twi hull catamaran for the hunt. Technology is good now and the Sperm Whales were easy to find, we got within about 20 metres or so, it was an incredible sight watching the first male (Noodles) coming to the surface blowing out his air and cruising around a bit before diving tail in the air before disappearing.
We then went to see a huge pod (maybe 400) of dolphins leaping out of the water and circling the boat, an amazing sight. Then it was back to find Noodle who was apparently heading back to the surface, they stay under for between 30 and 60 minutes generally but can go down for more than 2 hours at a time.
We
again got up close and personal with Noodle after some full on wave bashing that left a few people sick and sorry, LOL, before checking out another big male Sperm whale called Little Nick. It was a truly fantastic experience and worth every cent and every minute.
It took Ruth an hour or so to get her stomach right so I started the long drive from the east coast to Greymouth on the west, the country side is beautiful but after a while it all looks the same, I drove over the Southern Alps via Lewis Pass for about three hours before taking a rest. Poor Ruth got done speeding not long after, I saw the plain car on the side of the road and told her she was a rev head, as in slow down, but it was too late, the poor love ($170).
We reached Greymouth late in the afternoon and were shocked to find all the lodgings full, we ended up staying in a rundown place, like the one in Psycho, run by some Chinese immigrants, it was old a bit dirty but all we could find. After dumping our stuff we headed to the
Sperm whale
Close and friendly information centre to see whether we could arrange accomodation down the coast. At the information centre, was a really helpful woman who rang places all the way to Te Anau in the south and seriously, we were damn lucky to find anything at all, we are staying in a little cabin Wharatoa, 31km from Franz Joseph Glacier, then some pretty expensive rooms in Queenstown and Te Anua.
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