Day 11 - Kiakoura and Picton

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We drove from Christchurch in the moring towards Kaikoura and Picton. Kaikoura has lots of ocean tours including Swimming with Dolphins and Seal and Albatross viewing. (Monty Python warning....ALBATROSS!) We took an afternoon tour to look at the Albatross. Kaikoura is one of the few places you can see Albatross so close to land. There is a very deep sea trench close to Kaikoura and at night there are lots of squid and other animals that the albatross eat close to the waters surface.

We saw lots of birds and animals on the tour. The birds we saw include Wandering, Black-browed and Salvins Albatross, Petrels, Shearwaters, Shags, Terns, Gulls, a Gannet and a couple of Reef Herons that looked to be setting up a nest.

We also saw some New Zealand fur seals and a pod of dolphins. We were not supposed to see the dolphins--that's another tour 😊. The dolphins came right up to the boat and even raced through the bow waves at one point as we were driving off. It was really neat. The seals were pretty sleepy but we did see a very young baby and a couple of big males fighting.

We are heading to Picton tonight and then heading out on the ferry to Wellington tomorrow.

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Photos

ALBATROSS!
It's hard to get a good idea of size but the albatross is about the size of a swan and the wing span is about 6 ft.

Mmmmmm...
The tour leader hung out a frozen block of fish liver and salmon over the edge to attract the birds.

Red Beaked Gull
Another one of the birds we saw...the Red beaked Gull

Chris on the Boat
You can see the fur seals in the background.

Comments

[katt]

Where are the Bob-ombs?
hehe, wasn't an Albatoss one of those red birds in Super Mario Brothers that tossed bombs at you? That's not nice... These Albatross birds look more friendly, though... phew!

[monica]

beautiful pictures of albatross
Hellow, i'm a painter, i saw your pictures of albatross and i love it... can i use it for a painting that im about to begin? thanks

[tonywilsonslo]

Sure Thing! Enjoy!