Last nights conversations led us on to enquirer about doing a whale watching boat trip in Kaikoura which is a good 8 to 9 hours away from where we are but fortunately its the way we had planned to be headed, including a stop at Hanmer Springs. On going to book it we only had a choice to be put on a waiting list for the very next day (next available spot was 4 days later) and we had to be there at 630am… so our day would be spent mostly driving! And arrive at 6.30 and hope that a couple of people didn’t turn up, and then hope some more that we were the ones that got picked!
We got on the road and took the very scenic route though Arthurs Pass that cuts back towards where we started in Christchurch. (Well out of our way but couldn’t turn down a good drive!)This amazing road had mountains either side, huge views and amazing picture opportunities, and there was me thinking I had seen it all. You can see how easily Lord of the Rings was filmed here with such diverse landscapes. On getting half way on the road our first stop was to a world famous pie shop but trust our luck it was closed for New Years. Hungry we carried on towards our next stop, Hanmer Springs. Hanmer Springs is all about its thermal pools which had been recommended a few times on our travels and it looked great in the pictures. Especially amazing if you go in the winter and are then sitting outdoors surrounded by snow! So about another 3 hours and we were at the Spa but with bellies calling we made a road side curry like you do before heading into the spa for a good long relaxing soak. It was great, had loads of pools all over 33º nice and toasty and the thermal water pool was a scorching but brilliant 42º – very nice way to unwind after a long day in the car! With the sun setting – the best most colourful sun set ever! It almost just didn’t look real! We drove on to Kaikoura along very bendy long roads for about 3 hours, found the whale building we needed to be at the next morning and parked up in the carpark for the night so we could be first in the waiting list the next day.
As planned we were first in and fortunately for us 5 people hadn’t turned up for the day – so out of the 30 or so crazy people that had turned up so early incase there was a spare spot they literally just pulled names from a hat and ours was the first to be called so the long drive the day before all seemed worth it – well, hoping we see a whale or two now still! Getting on the boat and being talked to by the David Attenborough wannabe was really interesting and soon we was out on the sea looking for whales and luckily within 30 minutes we were all out on deck watching an absolutely huge Sperm Whale load up with air while squirting huge sprays of water in the air before it dived down 300 meters to feed for 30 minutes before coming back again! Watching it dive down was brilliant its head comes up a bit before pushing its massive tail in the air and crashing down back into the sea! Brilliant! We were truly lucky as we got to watch this happen another 4 times at various locations, before being told that a pod of Orcas (Killer whales) had been spotted nearby so our vessel headed to that location just in case we were lucky enough to see them. And we were, we saw them far away but then they all came right towards the boat and there were about 8 of them! The video shows it better than I can explain it but it was excellent to see them all in there own environment. Couldn’t believe our luck, very very happy to have made it to see such amazing things!
Pictures are here!
Only thing that might be better than our morning was where we are headed to next – the Marlborough Wine Region!
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