Whale watching

We left Mount Cook early this morning, but not before capturing the sunrise on its eastern face.

The road ahead to Kaikoura was a long one with more than 500 km to do. The road away from Mount Cook was illuminated by the same sunrise.

All day the scenery rippled past as we went from mountains to undulating hills, on to massive central plains and back to mountains at the Pacific Ocean. We noticed at almost the first lay-by in front of the Ocean much excitement and pointing, so we stopped to witness a school of about 20 dolphins fishing about 100m from the shore. They were a long way off, but you could still see them circling and jumping.

First sighting of dolphins!

Shortly after this we reached our camp site at Peketara Beach. We have a lovely spot overlooking the Ocean. Miss Maui looked very happy as we parked her up for the night.

Miss Maui had a very special reason for feeling so pleased tonight. On our drive today, Sue took control and flew Miss Maui for the very first time.

As driver, Sue found our top legal speed of 100kph very comfortable, which was not the way it had been viewed as a passenger. I also found being passenger very comfortable. I did try giving Sue some of her own advice, but it just feel on deaf ears. I can honestly say I shall look forward to my next opportunity to be passenger.

Although, both tied from a long day driving, we agreed to get showered and go into town for dinner. We had a fantastic fish meal at a lovely restaurant in Kaikoura.

Tomorrow, we will be taking you all out on a whale and dolphin watching cruise. So, get your sou'westers and cameras ready and we will see you all on the quay at 12:45. Sleep well.

We have woken-up this morning on the edge of the Pacific Ocean. We think the sunrise was spectacular, but please judge for yourselves.

Peketara Beach

Our campsite owners live onsite, and we suspect have been running the site for most of their lives. At some point they decided campers needed more signage. "One way", "Green Glass", "Clear Glass" "Brown Glass", "Rubbish - No Glass", "Open Dump Station Lid To Use", then on the underside of the lid, "Run tap while using". My favourite to date has been "Please do not stand on toilet seat", which was actually provided with diagrammatic instructions on how to sit and was translated into 7 different languages!

Especially, for all my fans of parking, I have been alarmed at the way New Zealand Seagulls disrespect parking rules, as evidenced here.

I can see nothing wrong with this seagull!

Anyway, enough of that, let's go see whales, or whale as the case maybe.

So, we went out for about 10miles over the oceanic trench, which was about 1,000m deep. Whales come to the surface and blow air and water from their breathing holes. After waiting, and waiting, and waiting the cry finally went up and we cruised over beside a Sperm Whale. He was laying on the surface resting after a feeding dive. They spend 45mins to 1 hour beneath the surface, then, after a rest they dive again. So, this was our only chance to see him. He didn't disappoint. He rested, then he humped his back, dived and swished his tail in the air. This raised a cheer from our fellow observers. My apologies but the pictures of a Sperm Whale resting in the Pacific Ocean are not that impressive, but his tail swish made up for this!

This is Aoraki, named because his dorsal fin is the same shape as Mount Cook (Aoraki)

Farewell Aoraki, safe travels.

This was our only sperm whale encounter. Sad but still the most moving experience ever.

As compensation,the captain then went in search of Dusky Dolphins. This was another moving experience, but again very tricky to capture. They are faster and more playful than a Tesla on heat!

This brought our whale watching excursion to an end. We drove around the bay to the Pier Hotel and had a lovely meal. After this we followed the coastal road to the Sea Lion Sanctuary and walked along the coast to catch a glimpse of them at rest on the rocks. We weren't diappointed>

On that note, we wish you all good night and here's to our drive to Blenheim. Marlborough Country. Just a warning to Gerry & Geoff, virtually every bottle of wine coming out of this area is Sauvignon Blanc. A part of the world to be avoided at all costs as far as you are concerned!

All our love,

Sue and Trev xx