Friday, August 13, 2004
There She Blows...!!
OK, he rather than she...we went whale watching in Kaikoura today. It was just far too cold for swimming with dolphins, and actually, due to gale warnings, the dolphin boats didn't go out anyway.
Kaikoura is about two and a half hours from Christchurch so Ann lent us her car (a lovely brown Mitsubishi Banger - from the 1970s I think) and we headed up the coast. There is a fabulous backdrop of snowcapped mountains around the town, and the land slopes steeply down to the sea - continuing below the water, hence the presence of whales and dolphins so close to land. We were only 1km or so away from the shore today, yet we saw four sperm whales. The trench on the sea bed drops down pretty much like the Grand Canyon. All the sperm whales at Kaikoura are males - the ladies prefer warmer water. Right idea girls...
When we arrived yesterday, we went for a walk along the cliffs, starting from the seal colony, and when we came back, there were loads of them lounging around the car park. I even saw a little young one, but he took one look at me and scarpered! Baby seals sure can shift!
Louise continued her culinary tour by trying the local delicacy - crayfish. She even got instructions on the corrent way to eat it from the waitress. I stuck to the steak.
Also, last night was the best yet to see the Southern hemisphere stars. They were amazingly clear, although we didn't see too much shooting star activity - a couple of faint ones that could just have been our eyes swimming! Wish we had someone to tell us which constellation was which.
I went to get some Dramamine or other seasickness tablets from the local chemists yesterday, as I am prone to travel sickness. The young man gave me a local remedy that they developed themselves! Well it certainly did the trick. Despite very rough seas I felt perfectly fine. Unfortunately I was nodding off by 2pm ("May cause drowsiness"), and as I was driving at the time, Louise had to take over while I snoozed back to Christchurch.
Still, at least I wasn't sick...
Kaikoura is about two and a half hours from Christchurch so Ann lent us her car (a lovely brown Mitsubishi Banger - from the 1970s I think) and we headed up the coast. There is a fabulous backdrop of snowcapped mountains around the town, and the land slopes steeply down to the sea - continuing below the water, hence the presence of whales and dolphins so close to land. We were only 1km or so away from the shore today, yet we saw four sperm whales. The trench on the sea bed drops down pretty much like the Grand Canyon. All the sperm whales at Kaikoura are males - the ladies prefer warmer water. Right idea girls...
When we arrived yesterday, we went for a walk along the cliffs, starting from the seal colony, and when we came back, there were loads of them lounging around the car park. I even saw a little young one, but he took one look at me and scarpered! Baby seals sure can shift!
Louise continued her culinary tour by trying the local delicacy - crayfish. She even got instructions on the corrent way to eat it from the waitress. I stuck to the steak.
Also, last night was the best yet to see the Southern hemisphere stars. They were amazingly clear, although we didn't see too much shooting star activity - a couple of faint ones that could just have been our eyes swimming! Wish we had someone to tell us which constellation was which.
I went to get some Dramamine or other seasickness tablets from the local chemists yesterday, as I am prone to travel sickness. The young man gave me a local remedy that they developed themselves! Well it certainly did the trick. Despite very rough seas I felt perfectly fine. Unfortunately I was nodding off by 2pm ("May cause drowsiness"), and as I was driving at the time, Louise had to take over while I snoozed back to Christchurch.
Still, at least I wasn't sick...
