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Saturday 19th May 2007
We, in the previous week, had decided that the weekend of the May 19th would be dedicated to whales.
Kaikoura was about 2 hours away and was the best place to go whale watching, swim with dolphins and seals. Its a must and we know why now.
After a jog on the saturday...more hills..you know the score by now, we headed north to Kaikoura. We called into the supermarket on the way, and I decided to buy half of it - from cookies to reduced yoghurts, everything! Gill was not impressed as we didnt need half of it and we realised that I have a problem when I go into supermarkets! The lads from Newcastle will vouch for this, but when I head into supermarkets I buy shitloads....anything on offer, anything reduced - everything looks worth it! Gill and most other people dont. I'm slowly getting over it ut like they said - the best way of solving a problem is knowing you have a problem...!
The drive up, was again one of great scenery and we got on the coast road all the way up for a couple of hours.
Kaikourai an awesome little fish town hidden away along a huge bay, with a stretch of shops, restaurants and bars running pararell to the beach and pacific ocean. Its well known basically because of the whales and its crayfish.
Arriving there we went to the 'lookout' point, over which you can see the whole bay of Kaikoura and the great views! The sun was going down and Gill got camera happy and thought she'd seen a whale, which was very debatable!!! From here we saw the town cntre and went and checked out the row of shops and had a drink in an awesome little Irish Pub called Strawberry Fields, which had its own lil fireplace. We then drove around to find our hostel!
From work I had managed to sort out getting to see the whales and getting a hostel. This is one of the perks of the jobs, as companies are very nice to you when you work for a big company in NZ like YHA! The hostel was YHA and we got that free for the night....eventually after trying to find it for a while! We got our room sorted and had a quick chat with the hostel manager then headed back into Kaikoura.
We went for a drink in the Lobster Bar which was packed full of farmers in checked shirts, getting smashed watching the Rugby! Was great atmosphere but realised the food wasnt up to much so headed to a place called The Rocks which we'd seen earlier. It was a real nice place and there was a guy there singing and playing the guitar called Franky who was proper bosh. We had to get the crayfish so we ordered that along with mussels and this local fish. They were all awesome, especially the local fish! It took ages to 'not so' carefully find all the fish in the cray! And when we thought we'd finished, the waitress politely told us that there was alot more fish in the legs! We promptly started devouring that too! Gill has brought me into the world of fish - I'm getting there - some is still off limits for me but I'm gradually moving through the different ones!!
After the meal and a few drinks we headed back to the hostel and got ready for the watching the whales!
Sunday 20th May 2007....
After a dodgey night sleep with Gill sleep talking to me about horses that were racing last friday, we got up and packed our massive packed lunch and went to eat it at the lookout point. So for breakfast we had sandwiches and I had 3 yoghurts as I was determined to prove to Gill that they hadnt been a waste of money!
The sun was out and we drove to the whale watching centre for 10am. I was treated very nicely and all we had to pay was for Gill and we got 10% off that! Sweet!
We looked around the centre and all the souvenirs and I went on the beach looking for whales! At 10.30 we got briefed and made our way by bus to the catamaran. Gill had planned it all out - get out of the briefing first, on the bus at the front and in the queue for the boat first! It worked a dream and we got prime seats right next to the door ready to run out when/if we saw any whales! It was a mission.
Strapped in, we sped off. The tour guide was really good and she told us about the thing s we may see and a bit of background on them all! We had a big flat screen at the front we showed us how far out we were!
Bouncing over the waves, which was awesome, all our eyes fixed on the waters outside trying to see the biggest mammals in the world. Theres a watcher on top deck with binoculars but I was dammed if I wasnt going to spot the first whale.
After about 30mins good news came - a whale was around - somewhere. We slowed down and everyone eagely spied for the jet of water coming from the whale! Its well funny and real exciting..they let us out onto the decks, and with our plan working perfectly,we shot out first and got prime viewings...
A few minutes on deck a group of snap happy chinese blokes suddenly started shouting - WHALE! WHALE! And there it was in the distance, bobbing along! We picked up speed and headed towards it! It felt like all we were missing was the harpoon! Lets get it!!! Gill a little slower to see it, (glasses defo needed) finally did and jumped about shouting "I see it, I see it!"
We were allowed to get real close up to it and we could easily see it. There about 18ft long but we could only see around 8ft which was out of the water. Once we were there, the guide told us more about the whales and Gill got to work with the camera. Transfixed we all waited there for it to descend. It comes up to the surface to collect air ready for its plunge to the sea bed for a feed - and it doesnt come back up for another 40mins!
Then after a few minutes snorting water out, it takes a big glup and down it goes...this is when you see the tail come up and you get the best shots! Looks awesome! So all pumped up and full of smiles, we head back in and on the charge for another whale! It cant come quick enough and I'm already looking out into the ocean, eagle eyed!!
The tour guide knew the whale and back in our seats gave us a history of this particular whale - known as Mr T! So we carried on watching and by the end of the tour we had seen 3 whales and shitloads of birds and albatrosses! It was awesome and well worth it! Suppose I'd be saying something different if we had just seen some seagulls in 3hrs!?!
We had heard about a Seafood BBQ which was basically a guy on the side of the road cooking up fish. It was still sunny and we got some grilled fish and scalopes. It was about 4ish and we drove to the seal colony after which was just loads of rock pools on the coast with the odd seal basking in the sun! We shamoned most of the pools looking for crabs and chilled out watching the seals for a bit.
The rest of the plan was to head across to Hanmer Springs on the sunday afternoon. If you've been paying attention you would already know that they are the outdoor thermal natural springs - as my previous entry stated!
Well we drove across there and this time we had brought swimming gear and ready to chill out!! Took us about 2hrs and arrived as it was getting dark! Theres loads of pools, all different temperatures, smelling of sulphur! It was lovely and we just laid back and chilled. I was followed round by the lifeguards cos I kept jumping about and putting my head under the water and biting Gill (you're not meant to put your head under the water - might get meningitis or summit!) All it missed was the centre styley plunge pool which would have gone down very well - first in last out, heh DJ!! We floated about there for an hour and half, dashing from pool to pool in the cold night!
Arrived home late and I packed for my week of training in Auckland!
So after another busy weekend, we came away chuffed to bits that we'd fitted it all in! Its great and thats why were really here!! We have so many brochures and plans that I just hope the winter lets us do them! Spot on!
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Simon Owen
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a Whale of a time?!!
Brilliant mate... so exactly who told you this was a must see in NZ? haha. It's so funny thinking of you doing the same trip Chris and I did 9 months ago! It's awesome chasing a whale, there's not much call for that here in Manc... not til 2am that is hahaha!!! keep enjoing Wingman! Mav.