Friday 10th Mar Kaikoura (23 degrees)

Today we were heading out on a whale watching cruise and the weather looked a little iffy but the seas were calm so we were grateful for that. We checked in around 10am and about 30 minutes later a coach took us out to the wharf area where our cruise was to depart from. A very large and comfortable boat quickly took us out to the area where we were likely to sight whales. There was a small swell but nothing to worry us and the sun was out by now and it was quite warm. Excellent commentary about whales and in particular the Sperm whale, was provided on the trip out. We were lucky to sight a sperm whale and watched it until it took a dive down. Our guide informed us that this whale would now spend 40-50 minutes under water before returning to the surface to breathe. Our boat continued on and a Blue whale was soon sighted. I was a little excited to see the biggest mammal on earth! Again after watching this huge creature for a few minutes it too took a dive down into the depths of the ocean. Our boat then returned to the area where the first whale had been sighted as it was time for it to rise to the surface. We didn’t have to wait long until the sperm whale was sighted. We were able to enjoy watching this whale again before heading back to the wharf. As soon as we were back to our car, Rob called the Kaikoura Golf Club and was able to arrange a round of golf. Pat and I took the car back into town and visited a very interesting house, Fyffe House. The first part of this house was built in 1848, for the whaling industry. Whale-bones were used in the original, early part of the building as foundations and we were able to see them in parts. The rest of the house had been built between 1848 and 1857. Pat and I enjoyed viewing the different rooms and learning about the history of the house, which had virtually remained the same since it was built until it became part of the national trust in 1981. (Only 3 families had lived in the house over the years.) Following this, Pat and I went for a drive to view Point Kean and the coastline as well as trying to find a seal colony that live in this area but we didn’t manage to see any seals. We returned to town and did some shopping and strolling. Soon it was time to return to the golf course to pick Rob up. He had enjoyed his round of golf on the attractive course even though he had used borrowed clubs!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Monday 27th Feb Lake Taupo (20 degrees)

Leaving Rotorua we had a short journey to Taupo, a beautiful town located on the banks of the huge Lake Taupo. We saw many more areas of geothermal activity on our drive as well as areas where the cyclone had either uprooted or torn huge branches off large pine trees. We stopped in at the visitor centre in Taupo to sort out our plans for the rest of the day, before heading to the Huka Falls on the Waikato Rivers. A short walk took us to various viewing areas of these impressive falls. We then drove on to the Aratiatia Dam. This is a hydro-electric dam but water is also deliberately released from the dam three times a day to recreate the rapids that were once here. This is a tourist attraction. We watched the opening of the gates and the ensuing rapids before boarding a boat to go on a beautiful and relaxing river cruise. The cruise was fantastic, particularly the wonderful commentary from the skipper. He carefully took the boat right up to the Huka Falls and we were able to take some p...
Read more

Sunday 26th Feb Rotorua (23 degrees)

I spent a few minutes this morning enjoying the peaceful, calm outlook from our unit, looking across Lake Rotorua, as well as checking out the beautiful garden on the property. We headed out this morning to visit Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland. It took us about 30min. to drive there and after purchasing our tickets we  drove a short distance to see the Lady Knox Geyser that apparently would shoot up around 10.30AM. I found it interesting that you could predict when it was going to happen. We had a lovely woman doing the presentation and she explained that the Geyser was actually formed by man, over 100 years ago. Prisoners from a near-by jail were busy working for the government planting trees, and discovered the geo-thermal waters of the area. They regularly relaxed in the warm, mineral pools after a hard day’s work and eventually started bringing their washing to there do as well. One day a man dropped his soap into a deep hole where the water was coming up from. After a few minut...
Read more