Ali lowe and other animals.

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Well it was another early start for me today the alarm went off while the little hand was still in the 5am slot. Well just but still that's still pretty early. Today I'm moving from Christchurch to Kiakoura and hopefully see some whales. 
The bus journey of yesterday has killed any desire for more torture so I'm going on the train, the tranzcoastal to be exact. 
It's still dark as i arrive at the station and again I can hear the big diesel engine throbbing in the gloom, my luggage is stowed and labelled so it doesn't beat me to Wellington, and I take my seat, it's still not 7am, what am I doing to myself?
It only takes me about half an hour to realise, I see the sun rise over the canterbury plains, flat grassy expanse reaching out to the sea, and the pale fresh hues of the day waking up, hazy blues and pinks break through the military darkness and then themselves give way to the startling yellows and oranges of this potent new day. 
The train powers along the coast, never too far from the sea, on some occasions the track is laid right next to the beach, there is nothing between the train and the pacific, these uninhabited, unvisited coves are there purely for the riders of the train and the basking wildlife. The coastline is rugged and to my left hills rise away to separate my little adventure from the rest of the modern world. 
Within 3 hours I've reached my destination, Kiakoura is a pretty little town, is main street streaching down along the sea front with souvenir and artisan shops intespersed with daily essentials. 
I don't waste time and get myself booked on to the next available whale watching boat, it's a predictable switch in society that sees this town built up on whaling is now relient on whale watching for it's economy. Harpoons replaced by zoom lenses and video cameras  
The boat doesn't leave for another two hours so I go find my hostel, which is, and I quote, just at the end of the main street, technically the cab driver I asked was correct. 
I was feeling a little hot when I eventually finished the 3km trek but the view was worth it, the dual bay of Kiakoura has a rocky beach along the main drag, but as the bay curves round at the edges, and where my hostel is, the rocks form outcrops and a solid base for the crysal clear sea to explore as the bubbling waters make there way into every crack. 
I hire a bike to get back to the whales, but I'm out of luck, the morning boat has come back empty handed, no sightings and although they are tracking the whales they are operating outside our area. I like the idea of whales operating outside the area like some rogue cop bent on revenge. 
There are 4 more sailings in the afternoon and they will keep us posted, so what do you do? Well I decided I needed a cup of tea, chai latte to be exact In a pudding bowl, honestly it was the best thing, I drank them all afternoon. And other than that I didn't do alot else, I sat and read my book on the pebbly beach, I wandered aimlessly down through the shops, enjoying possum pelts, jade ferns and recycled clothing and acsesories. Nothing happened fast and the whales never did stray into our area, but my afternoon was good. 
By 3 30 all whale trips had been cancelled and on the advice of the women at the I-site I went to the seal colony and headlands walk.  
It can't have been my day for wildlife, the colony consisted of  2 seals, one grumily hide behind a rock and grumbled at unsuspecting tourists while the other was flipper up, I sware it was dead but floods of excited toursits got way too close to this marine mammel to take a photo, there is a peverse pleasure in the knowledge that all these people will proudly show off this ex seal to friends and relatives in there holiday snaps.
You can walk out along the flat rocks of the seal colony to the sea where huge kelp beds remind me of David attenborough and films about seals and sea otters, the constant movement of this brown, smooth, seaweed pasta drags your mind into the belief that there is always a seal there just below the surface, but no it is just a tangle in the kelp 
From there I walked the cliff top path around and back to Kiakoura, the views from this path were fantastic, the headland juts out into the pacific and the rugged coastline provides bays and inlets that from above are a sparkling turquoise blue, they entice me to go in but the cliffs are too steep so these bays go unexplored and my feet remain, unfortunatly, dry.
I really shouldn't go out for dinner again tonight but the town is famous for crayfish and I can't help myself. I'm relieved to find that there is a smart looking restaurant just around the corner so I don't need to walk all the way back to town. The green dolphin is really good, the staff are immediatly inviting and sit me down, chat and then ply me with magazines so I don't get bored. I plan to have the crayfish but for some reason bottle it at the last minute, what if I don't like lobster and they cook them live don't they, coward, I'm going to regret that decission I'm sure. My steak however is cooked to perfection, melt In the mouth stuff with roast potatos and steamed veg, yum 
So I've had another busy day, more travel tomorrow but first I need to catch up on some sleep.        

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