Land Down Under Trip: Day 10

Tuesday, July 26, 2016

This morning we were up very early, by 6:00am so that we could hop back in the car (ugh) to drive back to Kaikoura to attempt the whale watching tour.  We roused everyone and got ready quickly and grabbed a quick continental breakfast at our hotel (the only hotel we stayed at with free breakfast) and then hit the road by 7:00am.  I tried calling the tour company to see if they had any info on the days boat tours, but they didn’t answer the phone.  We were a little nervous because we were scheduled to check-in at 10am and Mason checked the marine forecast which was supposed to increase throughout the day. 

Mason was a sweetheart and drove first for us.  Woodrow and I fell asleep pretty quickly into the ride and it was needed.  I think our moods were much better having gotten that extra morning sleep.  Mason was a trooper because once that sun popped up it was straight in his eyes almost the entire drive.  When we got closer to Kaikoura I noticed that the South Bay was significantly less wavy than the day prior so I hoped that was a good sign.  When we got in town we were about an hour early so we decided to grab some breakfast at a small café that was open.  We got three things and shared them.  I think some of these cafes need to work on presentation, because some of the food was quite tasty, but didn’t look like it in the display case. 

 

We headed to the Whale Watch Kaikoura site and I was pretty nervous that the tours would be cancelled given the previous days reports and the lack of cars in the parking lot, but when we went to check-in they said that the boat was on schedule to go and there was a tour group in front of us getting their safety briefing.  The man checking us in warned that there was a sea sickness warning and would that be a problem for any of us.  I had worn by sea bands and popped a Zofran, so we were going.  We were brought into a room around 10:15 for a quick safety briefing and then loaded up on a bus to be driven to the South Bay where we’d meet our boat. 

 

The boat we were on was essentially a very large motor boat with an inside cabin that passengers had to sit in during the “transportation” phase of the ride.  We got a briefing and some more info from one of the tour guides.  The Kaikoura area is a really popular area for Sperm Whales year round because the warm waters of the Kaikoura Canyon and Hikurangi Trench combined with the cold Antarctic waters make it an ideal gathering area for the Sperm Whales.  Also June and July happens to be migration season for the Humpback Whale so we were hoping we might see any type of whale.  We were pretty satisfied with the Dolphin Tour we did two years ago in Florida, but with these tour types you never know what they’ll consider a “sighting” to increase their percentages.

Anyways, we got on the boat, probably with a group of around 50 people (didn’t feel crowded at all) and they took us a few kilometers from the shore.  I wasn’t feeling amazing at this point, but being able to stare at the shoreline helped.  Mason said he saw dolphins in the distance, and I have to believe him because I don’t have the amazing vision he does.  They let us out onto the deck while the Captain used some of his tools to listen for whale sounds.  After finding nothing, we piled back inside and moved to another location.  This went on a few times, and made the kids angry since they kept having to go in and out in their large lifejackets (really glad those were provided for kids).  This tour didn’t allow anyone under 3, so we may have fibbed a bit on Woodrow’s age…Eventually the Captain was picking up some sounds but right as we were heading to that area someone on the boat spotted the water spout from a Humpback whale, but the Captain sped off to try and track the Sperm Whale.  Mason and I were like, what the heck…but later discovered why he went in search of the Sperm Whale. 

 One of the other ships crews had spotted a Sperm Whale on the surface of the water, so we were able to get on the deck quickly to view it.  We were surprised how close the boat got to the whale, and we ended up being in a great spot on the port side of the boat.  Sperm Whales only stay at the surface around 5-10 minutes, so we got a pretty good encounter with the whale, and then we saw it lift its tail and dive back down into the water, where it will stay for 2-3 hours before resurfacing.  Totally cool, and the kids were able to see it really well which was great.  Theo thought it was hilarious when I “spoke whale” to him. 

We headed back closer inland and were able to find a group of Dusky Dolphins.  Holy Moly!  There were hundreds, and they were so close you could probably have touched one if you leaned far enough off the boat.  This was awesome!  The kids loved it!  The dolphins were swimming under the boat, jumping, and were so cool!  Another tour boat signaled to our guide that they were spotting a Humpback Whale so we went on our way to see if we could locate this fellow.  We were able to see one (or two) Humpback Whales, but they just surface to blow their water out and then dive back down and swim to another location so we could definitely see how they were much harder to track and keep sight of.  We were able to get pretty close, but didn’t get as interesting photos of this guy since he just showed a bit of himself at a time. 

After about 2-2.5 hours on the water we headed back to the small harbor and took the bus back to the depot where we had loaded.  When we got off the bus, most people rushed inside, but Eagle Eyes Mason spotted a seal playing just off the beach shore so we went to take a look.  This Seal was having the time of his life with a large fish and taunting the seagulls.  The kids didn’t really seem to care at all about being feet away from this seal because they were having too much fun playing with rocks and sticks. 

After a little more time in the sun, we loaded back up in the car and headed back, 2.5 hours, to Christchurch.  And now it was time for Mason and Theo to sneak in their naps.  The drive didn’t seem as bad as the day prior, the moods probably helped.  Although I had to laugh, as Mason was headed into nap land, he said, “I want to take a picture of a tree, it should be in about 45 minutes from here, you can wake me for that.”  I never felt so much pressure…he ended up waking up after what I thought the tree might have been, but turns out we hadn’t passed it yet, so he got his photo. 

We were pretty hungry by the time we got back in to Christchurch so we grabbed some pizzas from Pizza Hut and took it to a park nearby and ate by a small canal.  I think at this point we were all mostly exhausted and could have gone to sleep if it hadn’t been 5:00pm.  We headed back to the hotel after eating and had an early night going to sleep.