New Zealand - Kaikoura

Oh my - there's ice on the windscreen. Have we got enough clothes?

The good news is there's little breeze and the sun is shining - what we couldn't see yesterday, which we can today - is an amazing set of snow covered peaks which apparently provide good skiing. They also make an amazing backdrop to a whale watch experience.

The first thing we did was pop the sea-sickness tablets - better safe than sorry. After hearty whirr, bing microwave porridge we were equipped for the day. Driving down the road looking through a letterbox clear patch wasn't the greatest idea but, traffic was strangely light.

So we checked in at 7:15 to be told that we needed to convene in the briefing room at 7:45 ready for boarding at 8:00. Strangely, the only things open in Kaikoura at that time are the shop and cafe at the Whale Watch building.

We had been warned sea sickness was an issue so having earlier popped or own pills we looked around and placed bets. The favourite was an elderly American gentleman. After a safety video on how to evacuate in the event of the boat oveturning in 1000m of water we were let on board.

Even though the weather was glorious, and the views back towards Kaikoura itself were amazing, there was a little bit of a swell on the ocean. It meant we did undulate in our passage and crashed through the odd wave. It also meant we were confined to cabin.

They locate the whales through experience (they know roughly where the warm tropical and cold antarctic currents meet and therefore where food is best), reports from other spotters and a sonar type device. It therefore wasn't long before we heard 'Whale-Ho' and manned the harpoon...no, that's not right. Anyway, the boat is manouvered into place, everyone rushes out (though I was faffing so we missed it) and try to take a picture. It's interesting to see the Weeeyuls (as they are pronounced on board) and you do get a perspective of the size based on the little part of them you can see.

It seems they dive for an average of 35 to 45 minutes. When this one dived we scooted off to find another. At this point it's also worth throwing in the hilarious comment of: 'the record dive length for a sperm whale is 2hr 17mins - the approximate length of your tour. Let's hope they don't try breaking that today!' The onboard commentary was a little annoying - with the same jokes repeated and the main focus was clearly about making sure everyone got the ubiquitous dive shot where the tail comes up (we did. And as it was such an amazing clear day you can see the snow covered mountains in the back. Alice is good with the camera). They're awesome animals to see up close.

Another weeeyul was spotted so we were all back to our seats - by this point we'd lost our punt on the old American. It was the Dutch girl in front of us, the old American's wife and another girl who were fighting it out to fill their bags. And to think it said low likelihood of sea sickness. I wouldn't like to be the staff dealing with those bags.

While on board we also saw a fair number of Albatross - there's apparently over 20 species in the area but we were happy just to see one up close. As you can see from the picture, their wingspan is about a third of the height of a mountain.

The second whale needed to get it's breath back a fraction longer so was on the surface longer. It also then dived. By now it was 30 minutes from the first sighted weeeyul so we headed back to where we saw it. Sure enough it popped up again...it's another mad rush to get outside, take pictures, fill sick bags and wait for the dive before all heading back into the cabin s

o we can head back to the other weeeyul. We did eventually find another weeyul so we saw three in the tour and saw five dives. That's apprently good. At other times of year there's a load of other species on their migratory routes. So while we had a great experience (even if it doesn't sound like it from the above) it can get better.

We were also in the presence of a film crew - they didn't want to interview us - but if you ever visit have a look and see if you can see us!!

Having done the tour, we were back on land for 10:30 so were somewhat at a loss as to what to do. As the season's picking up it's not as easy as just signing up to things on the day in Kaikoure - it needs to be the day before!

We therefore walked around the peninsula cliff tops then descended to walk back along the coast past the multitude of fur seals before heading back to base. The evening meal out that evening was probably the worst we'd had in our whole trip.

Kaikoura does now seem to exist for views up to the mountains, whale/dolphin/albatross encounters and the odd walk. This is all very nice but it does mean the small town that may have been quaint once is now just a mass of motels, hotels, bars, backpacker places and liquor stores - the latter being the busier of all the places. Not our favourite place but we loved seeing the weeeyuls so it was worth the trip.

As we were heading to Christchurch the following day we fully expected rain - it was mainly sunny as we set off.