It was an early rise this morning and as we got out of the campervan we were finally able to have a look around where we were. To our surprise our campervan site was surrounded by huge snow capped Mountains which was pretty amazing. We got ready and headed to the bakery for a quick bite of breakfast before heading down towards the whale cruise terminal.
A short drive later we were down at the marina and checked in for our whale cruise. We had about 30 minutes to explore the beach here. The beach here was made out of perfect circular rocks and pebbles finally getting to really fine black sand near the water. The view was incredible and we both got distracted for a while looking at and collecting rocks. The rocks were so smooth.
After fossicking around on the beach we jumped on he shuttle bus which took us down to where the boats are kept. We were greeted by a seal who was up on top of some rocks near the boat. It was pretty cool. The boat was huge and was powered by jet propulsion which apparently allows it to move fast through the water and cause less distruptions to wildlife. We started the tour by sitting down and getting the region and the whales explained to us. Apparently the reason Kaikoura is suh a Mecca for wildlife is because the 3km deep Kaikoura Canyon runs right up against the coast creating a rare system of sea currents that sustain an incredibly rich marine food chain. The Sperm whales the main ones we were hoping to see live in and around this cannyon nearly year round. Also did you know that sperm whales are the largest animals with teeth.
It wasnt long until we found our first few animals. We saw a humpback whale in the distance and then found our first sperm whale which was a whale named Lazirus. He was up for a ittle bit and then dived under the water,
We were disapointed for long as as the whale dove under all the Dusky dolphins came out to play. It was so cool watching them jump along side the boat. We got a little while to watch them before the crew announced to hold on as we were jetting off as another whale had been sighted.
We saw probably over 100 dusky dolphins some of whom were throwing themselves out of the water as we were on our way to the next whale. We ended up seein another sperm whale really briefly on the way. This big hale was called Marama. Seeing these giant gentle beasts ere all just amazing experiences. I coudl go on forever as we were so so lucky on ths trip. We also saw some seals eating squids which was pretty cool. The whole cruise was magical.
We were just about finished the our when e were all called inside quickly and tol to sit down. Humpback whales had been spotted and Captain Jack thought we would just have time to race over there. He go us there to see a beautiful humpback right at the end of the tour. I cannot speak highly enough of this tour it was absolutely stunning. What an amazing town Kaikoura is.
We heaaded back to Kaikoura to have some lunch and decided on some fresh fish and chips. We headed to Coopers Catch in town which was amazing.
It was then time for the long drive back to Christchurch. The roads were beautiful a lo of the roads were destroyed during the Kaikoura earthquake many years ago so its nice to see them all beautifully rebuilt. Just befre we got to Christchurch we stopped for a quick coffee and then make it to the city.
We went for a walk to dinner and got to see how much more of Christchurch has been rebuilt since the last time we were here. It is looking much better then in 2017 when we were last here. We got to see what was meant to be the temporary cardboard church. We ended up having dinner at a really cute Japanese resturant we found. Really delicious.
