Lins and Rich’s Travel Blog

Hello again. Its hammering down with rain and six degrees outside in Christchurch so what better time to update the blog. Currently in sunny Christchurch untill Monday morning when we fly out to Nadi, Fiji for hopefully a sunnier climate than New Zealand.

The past couple of days have been spent in Kaikoura which was fantastic and a fitting end to a great trip around NZ. Its an amazing country and while I do not feel I can live here (its just too quite) its a great place to visit and would love to tour again some time in the summer so I can do the tramping we missed out on and see the amazing mountains and lakes in a diffrent state.

Currently in Christchurch which is a nice place but just like any other city really. Firmly belive after nearly a year of travelling that cities are not very diffrent and its the smaller places that make a country (there are obvious expections to this but in general) We spent a day exploring Christchurch and more so the surround area. Catching a bus out to the Gondala we took a trip up to the top of the banks peninsula and overlooked one of the first harbours in the South Island. Really nice scenery but you get a bit desesitized when you compare it to milford sounds and the remarkables!

After another bus journey into the centre we looked around a cool little art exhibtion space/ studio where students exhibited works. They ranged from the bizzare to the amazing and we spent a few hours viewing the works. What really blew me away was the work in a small studio by 16 to 18 year olds. The standard was amazing and the work that went into it was incredible.

Next day it was off to Kaikoura, the final tour stop of New Zealand. Kaikoura is special as it  next to a massive underwater valley. From the shore to 1km off shore the depth drops from 18m to 2500m and as such the area is home to a massive amount of wildlife. It is estimated that the area has around 200 sperm whales in transit around the area as well as a massive bird population and a huge fur seal colony. It is also apprently home to the giant squid however as there has only been one ever filmed this is all based on what the whales have been eating.

 Arriving in the afternoon we checked into a great little backpackers and on their advice walked to a seal collony. It was amazing, there were hundreds of seals laying on rocks resting. They ranged from huge bull seals with a chip on their shoulder, grunting and fighting and snoring! To the little baby seals that were heart breakingly cute. How any nation could beat any of these to death is beyond me, they were hillarious with their antics and watched you with huge eyes as you wandered past.

After a walk out to a point and a wander back along the cliffs we headed to the lookout which was on top of  a sealed slurry tank. Nice but the views over the end of the southern alps were stunning.

Next morning we headed to the whale watch station and were loaded into a bus and transfered to the boat. Onboard were luxury seats and a guide who started running through a biography of the sperm whales (called so as a couple of sailors got the totally wrong impression during a disection of a whale after it was caught). These majestic beasts hunt the canyon near the shore.

Due to the cold tempretures only the males are in the area as the females are smaller and have less bluber. They frequent warmer waters near fiji. The larger males have 40cm of blubber and can easily survive. They average 1000m on a dive and can hold their breath for an hour easily however one whale was recorded as going to 2500m and holding its breath for 2hrs 19m which is amazing. After about 15 minutes on the water a passanger gave a shout and we saw a whale surface about 600 m from the boat.

Usually Lins and I are jinxed on these sort of trips and we couldnt belive our luck. We headed over , always staying a reasonable distance and approaching from the side (whales can not see in front, only behind and to the side). Once we got on deck we realised how big an adult sperm whale is. The whale (called tonko) was 18m long and weighed 50 tonnes. It was massive, the same size as the boat we were sat on. They usual surface for 5 to 10 minutes before they go hunting again but this whale stayed on the surface ignorning us completly. The guide guessed that it had seen fish at a shallow depth and was watching them, anticipating an easy lunch. It was a truely a humbling site to watch such a massive creature hang on the waters surface, spraying water from its blowhole. After a few more minutes it gave a massive stretch and with suprising grace upended itself, the tail rose out of the water and it slipped below the surface. 

The information we were given was amazing. The ship had seen this year orcas and amazingly the blue whale which makes the sperm whale look tiny. The largest blue whale seen was 33m long and 200 tonnes.

The sperm whale is a carnivorous hunter while the blue whale and the humpback (also seen in the area alot) eat krill. Sperm whales as mentioned above eat mainly squid and large fish but strange things have been found in there stomach. A intact 5m shark, a 44 gallon drum of oil and quite worryingly a few humans. They are feriocious hunters and the scars on them show there battles with the giant squid.

Once every few weeks orcas are seen but we were not lucky enough to see them (killer whales). These are the largest of the dolphin family. 

In total we saw three whales (one twice) and the experience was amazing. While searching for more whales we came across a research vessle which comes out reqularly to study the dive patterns and the feeding of the whales and its good to see the whale watch boats helping that out by giving quordinates.

The guide on the boat also talked about the hunting of whales and especially the Japanese. They now hunt 1000 whales a year under the pretence of scientific research. As shown in the bay you do not need to blow the poor things to pieces to study them. Its unfortunate that the japanese influence apparently bullies and bribes up to 30 countries with no sea border into supporting this. This year they even tried to hunt 10 critically endangered humbacks on this premise but dropped it due to massive publice outcry. This was allowed by a treaty that stated that Antartica was a whale haven and no hunting could be carried out their EXPECT for scientific research.  The sea shepherd, an australian vessle managed to stop the fleet for 5 weeks this year and meant that the quota was not filled. Fair play to them!

As well as whales we were lucky enough to see albatross and petrels (not on a stick  - monty python fans will get this!). We even saw the largest sea bird the, gibson wandering albertross which has a wingspan of over 2.6m.

After getting back to shore we headed to try the local delicacy, crayfish. There is a bbq near the beach where they are cooked for cheap and we treated ourselves to a crayfish fritter and some scallops (delicious) before the drive back to Christchurch.

Well thats it from New Zealand. The next blog entry will be from Fiji where hopfully I can get to dive with some huge sharks if my nerve holds out! Five weeks today we will be back, its gone to quick!!