Kaikoura Whaleway Station

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The view form our overnight camp included the sea crashing against some rocks and a rather spectacular waterfall crashing to the ground beside the road.

We drove for twenty minutes before we arrived at “the Whaleway Station,” where we were hoping to catch a whale watching boat. The day before many of the boats had been cancelled due to the torrential rain. Luckily we were in for, well not plain sailing (a severe seasickness warning had been issued), but a good chance of seeing a sperm whale. We both took the necessary precautions of a Sturgeron tablet my mother handily provided us with, before attending a safety briefing.

About twenty minutes from the shore our captain came to a halt and lowered a hydrophone into the water to listen for the sounds of nearby whales. Having heard one nearby, we set off at a rate of 20 knots when rather suddenly the crew spotted another whale surfacing to starboard.

When I first caught sight of the surfaced whale I could suddenly see why all these “save the whales” hippies are so driven. The sheer size of them alone is impressive then add to that the dark, piercing eyes, it is hard not to be persuaded into joining a Greenpeace campaign. We watched him spray and take in giant lungfuls of air before diving with a fantastic tail flick back to the depths.

Most of the whales in Kaikoura are are solitary males who occasionally gather in pods but prefer to hunt alone. Their main diet is squid which is plentiful in the area due to the continental shelf drop off. At the drop off, the seabed drops from a depth of 90 meters to a depth of over 800 meters. The southerly current hits the continental shelf, causing the water to rise, bringing with it many nutrients from the sea floor. Squid and many other forms of marine life therefore flourish in the area.

After another hour of searching the waves, we spotted another, much larger whale surfacing just in front of the boat. There is something quite breathtaking about seeing so large an animal up close, especially one hunted so close to extinction. Andrew was unfortunately at this point rather seasick, but he kept his face and came out to sea the second whale. We had a rather rough but also rather scenic sail back to the mainland. After a picnic lunch we drove onward to South Brighton Campervan Park in Christchurch after lots of confusion caused by closed bridges and diverted roundabouts. A lot of the surrounding suburbs were still deserted many derelict and condemned houses following the earthquake. Being shattered, we set down for the night.

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