Whale watching!!

Well, the excitement we alluded to in our entry for yesterday was going out on board a local boat to look for whales. Kaikaura is a world famous location for whale spotting as there is a 'whale highway' just off the coast and the area is much favoured by these giant creatures. Indeed, Kaikaura's claim to fame, or one of them, is that there is an incredibly deep underwater trench, with depths up to 1600 metres/5,000 ft. close to the harbour, in fact the closest of any such trenches anywhere in the world.

It appears that there are transient whales, moving from Antartica to the tropics and also resident whales who live off shore most of the year only leaving for short periods to find a mate. We learnt a lot about whales this morning, did you know that there are toothed whales and toothless whales?, that there are whales that could swallow a human being without the body touching the sides of its throat (we decided not to test that particular proposition, the man who told us seemed to know what he was talking about!) and that some whales work in groups to round up their food, using bubbles of air from their blowholes to form a type of “net”. Also that some whales have evolved teeth made from the same stuff as nails and hair, which filter out fish from water; the latter being blown out and the former being swallowed whole.

Whale watching is big business, you can go out over the sea in a helicopter or go with the company we went with, who have a fleet of purpose built boats. This company is based on the sea front in Kaikaura at the railway station; their portion is, of course, known as the Whaleway Station.

It was in walking distance from our campsite so we set off about 8.45 a.m. for our trip at 9.30 a.m. We went early to have a look at the bay in the glorious morning sunshine. 

It was hot already as we walked along, the temperature was due to exceed 30C today and we think it achieved that at least. Even at that time the car parks along the promenade were pretty full with both cars and motor vans.

As we were a little early to check in we went and had a drink in the cafe, to be served by a young man from St Helens who is 16 months into his stay here in NZ; he would like to remain after his 24 month work permit expires but is unlikely to be allowed to do so. It sounds like a pretty good system they have to control the numbers and trades that they allow in to the country but we have yet to talk about it to any New Zealand residents to see whether they agree! He confirmed that it was going to be hot today as he served our drinks.

When we checked in we went into what was described as the briefing room, we sat in there and watched a fascinating DVD about whales, which some of the questions in the earlier paragraph came from. It lasted about thirty minutes after which we had our safety briefing and then we all (there were about fifty people in the group) climbed aboard a coach to be driven round to the boat. 

Once aboard we had another safety talk and were asked to fasten our seat belts. Fifty people all took about 20 seconds to realise that there weren't any but at least, as the crewman said, it proved we were listening to what he was saying.

The sea was not as calm as either of us would have liked but the trip was very well organised and we got to see a sperm whale, the same one amazingly, twice. This was on the way out first of all and we watched him dive and got a photo of his tail

 before moving further out in the hope of seeing others. Unfortunately we didn't find any more but the captain of the boat took us back to see the same whale again, who they knew would have resurfaced by this time. He was one of the resident whales who goes by the name of Tiaki (this is a Maori name which means “Large Protector” as he keeps an eye out for younger sperm whales should they come under threat from Orcas. They actually showed on the on-board DVD one incident where he frightened off an Orca who was threatening two small, young sperm whales).

Bert asked one of the crew how they knew when to come back to see Tiaki back on the surface again. He replied that some of the people working on the boats had been doing it for 30 years and had got to know the habits of any number of the 'resident' whales. He said that if he had observed Bert for 30 years (a real challenge according to Sue, having done it for over 40!) then he would know his habits just as well.

We both agreed as we came ashore that it was an experience that we would never forget. To actually see one of the largest mammals in the world, in the flesh so to speak, in its natural environment is a memory that will be with us for ever.

The commentary from the crew was continually informative, we were provided with a lot of information due to the lack of whales we could actually see, and they were remarkably restrained in their comments on whaling. The last whale to have been killed by New Zealanders off the coast of New Zealand was some 50 years ago. They are protected under New Zealand law now, there are even restrictions on the number of vessels that can approach within 300 metres. Vessels, under the law, includes helicopters. 

He did name the countries that are still hunting whales (Japan, Norway and Iceland) and made the point that all these countries are in the northern hemisphere. He said, half seriously, that he had no problem with them hunting whales in the northern hemisphere but took great umbrage that they actually sailed all the way down to Antartica to do so.

We had intended after lunch to walk along the Kaikoura peninsular to look at the seal colonies but in view of the heat we decided not to do so. We are pleased we made that decision, as although this post is being typed at 6.30 p.m. it is still almost too hot to sit outside in the sun. Our weather fortunes seem to have changed with a vengeance and are all upside down – North Island generally considered to be the place for the best weather. We had intended to go out to dinner tonight as we said yesterday but again have decided to forgo that also and stay on site. We are on holiday!!

The following is a whale's tooth, regarded by the Maori as a great treasure for giving away. Apparently a Maori gains greater prestige from giving gifts than receiving them!