Friday, January 1, 2016

Whale watching in Kaikoura

We've been in Kaikoura for the past three nights staying at a large and busy "backpackers", and this may well be our one and only backpackers experience! I think this place is too large...there are three communal kitchens to give you an idea of how large. Two of the kitchens are open 24 hours while the other, directly over our room is supposedly closed after 10pm until 8am. Well, not so last night with feet tramping overhead between 11 and midnight. Lloyd got up to complain twice, and the second time was more effective, however neither of us got back to sleep for a long while. 

My purpose in writing this post was not to complain about the accommodation, but to share Lloyd's whale watching pictures. A very successful outing on Thursday! We saw one sperm whale (but he didn't perform for us, that is he didn't dive to the bottom showing his flukes), three beaked whales (very rare sighting), and three orcas, plus a dolphin and seal and many albatross, very large birds gracefully gliding and swooping in the wind.


We were warned about motion sickness, and so I took a pill beforehand and sat in the back of the boat where the ride is a little smoother. I was so pleased not to suffer and could enjoy being out on deck when the skipper slowed the boat down.

Yesterday, on New Year's Day, we went for a little hike above Kaikoura.

And then visited a fur seal sanctuary just north of town, enjoying the sights of mothers and pups.

Today it's raining and we're travelling through the mountains to the west coast for three nights. 

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