The day dawned bright and clear, fully justifying our decision to stay in Kaikoura. Before our boat trip we drove up to the scenic lookout on the Kaikoura peninsula. From here we got a great view up and down the coast.
To the left is South in the direction of Christchurch and to the right is North towards Blenheim. The town of Kaikoura lies mostly on the North coast of the peninsula
The whale watching tours depart from the train station located at the northern end of the town. From there a coach takes each group to the harbour on the southern side of the peninsula. When we arrived at the small harbour our boat was actually out of the water on a cradle. It had two viewing platforms but the crew advised that those people who might feel queasy at sea should stay on the lower deck. We boarded the boat up a flight of stairs before a tractor pushed us into the sea. Once out of the harbour the Pacific was still quite rough so I was glad that I hadn’t gone to the upper deck.
The whale watching company has several boats and there’s usually one at sea at all times during the day. Our boat headed to meet another several miles out which was already following a sperm whale. Soon after we arrived it dived, giving us a good view of its tail.
The other boat, circling the whale as we arrived
Whales only show their tail as they dive deep to feed
We cruised around for a while before the captain spotted some dolphins in the distance. He tried to catch up with then but they were able to outrun our boat. Having given up chasing the dolphins we found a pod of pilot whales. They swam alongside our boat for a while until we turned back to shore. On the way back to the harbour we came across another sperm whale which we circled until it dived.
I really enjoyed the whale watching. I had assumed that it would be rather like a “tree-hugging” experience but it was much better than that.
We left Kaikoura and headed south before joining SH7 which crosses the Southern Alps through the Lewis Pass. The road winds through the mountains for what seems like ages, but the scenery certainly makes up for it. In places the road was down to a single lane as the other had been washed away in the spring rains. Seeing the broken tarmac at the bottom of a steep ravine was a bit worrying!
Just inland from the town of Greymouth on the West coast is the Brunner Mine. One of New Zealand’s earliesr coal mines, it helped make the colony viable as before its discovery fuel had to be imported from Australia. The bridge to the mine across the Grey River was recently restored
We stopped for the night at a campsite in South Beach, Greymouth. The site backs onto a beach of large pebbles but it was good to sit on and watch the sunset which was very impressive.
More like stones rather than pebbles, but the driftwood tree trunks made handy seats
