Kaikoura

Following a night of heavy rain, we decided to follow the coast road south from Picton and head for our next destination, Kaikoura, dropping in at a first world war aviation museum on the way. The museum had several interesting planes and some Red Baron memorabilia, all presented in thoughtful displays. As with many attractions over here, Peter Jackson, the director of LOTR, was credited with the displays. Whether he actually designed them or whether he simply inspired them we don't know. Almost all the aircraft were actually replicas - I suppose that there are many more museums than surviving aircraft from that period. Ian's favourite was the pre-WW1 Taube, which was astonishingly bird-like. Sadly, I don't think that it flew very well.

Taube monoplane

The drive down was lovely as the weather improved and we got great views of the Kaikoura mountain ranges which come close to the sea. As we approached the town we were able to pull off the road and view one of the NZ fur seal colonies at close quarters and watch the pups playing in rock pools.

NZ fur seal pups at play

Adult fur seals sunning themselves

Having found a great campsite and dealt with domestic matters such as laundry and washing, we booked for a trip called Albatross Encounter. The next morning we went out to sea on a smallish boat with about a dozen people on board – but only after I'd taken some sea sickness tablets! We travelled out to where a fishing boat was working, and very quickly we were in amongst amazing birds – principally albatrosses and petrels.



Wandering Albatross, Giant Petrel & Cape Petrels - note the Cape Petrels are about the size of pigeons.



Our boat carried some fish livers to entice the birds away from the fishing boat (a good arrangement for both parties we think) and we were able to see these huge birds flying around, landing on the water and feeding.

Albatross landing on the sea

There was a fair bit of squabbling between them for the food, but as far as we were concerned, they were completely docile and almost close enough to touch.

Complex wing folding

Albatrosses have a three-part wing which folds up in a complicated looking way – but they seemed to cope OK. The whole trip lasted three hours and we also saw some dolphins and a blue shark, as well as more NZ fur seals. All in all an amazing experience.

For nerdy types, the launch and retrieval system was also fascinating. Like a lot of boats we have seen over here, this one had a welded aluminium structure and water-jet propulsion so there was no prop to catch or tangle. On return to the launch ramp the boat was powered straight onto the waiting trailer until it latched in place. Simultaneously the tow tractor pulled it up the ramp and a minute later we stepped off onto dry land. Very neat indeed.

In the late afternoon, we went on a sea-kayaking trip around the bays and in amongst more seals, with a view to trying to see them catch fish, which we finally saw at the end of our trip. The kayaks were very smart 2-seaters. This was Ian's first time in a 'real' kayak and in spite of some disagreements over paddling technique we really enjoyed ourselves and might try and do some more when we get back home.

The following day we went whale watching. This is a much larger scale operation and has bigger boats and coaches to move people around. After a load of safety briefing (unusual for New Zealand) we sped out to the deep water trench where the sperm whales feed. The boat had 2 levels where we could view from, and having briefed us that everyone must be in their seats when the boat was moving, they proceeded to let us all stay out on the decks for almost the whole trip.

We managed to see three whales during our trip. They spend about for 5-10 minutes on the surface (though not that much of them shows above the water) before diving again for food. They can stay down for up to an hour. Getting a decent photograph is very difficult.

Whale tail disappearing - the best photo we got!

We're glad we did it and it was exciting to see whales for real. Maybe all the amazing wildlife photography that we have been accustomed to has raised our expectations too much, but the albatross trip was really much more involving and memorable.

Next stop - Arthur's Pass.