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Hi everyone
Hope you are well
Wehave now left Kaikoura but I wanted you to know about the rest of the activities that we did whilst we were there.
You may remember that we mentioned whale watching. Well……..
We had originally planned to do this in the morning by boat…but Lee was in the barbers ( I know shock horror!) and the woman said…that the whale watching has to be done by air and not by boat as you don't get to see all of the whale by boat, so that is what we did. The pilot told us that the flight was a scenic flight and could not guarantee to see whales at all. With this we were feeling a little nervous as we did not want to spend a lot of money and see no whales. Still, we had been luck with our wildlife so far so we though…what the hell…and we went for it!
The flight was due to be half and hour long and with the whales being up to a km under the surface for hours at a time…I was nervous. But within a few mins…we saw a spout of water and like a flash the plane lowered and we went to investigate. To our delight it was a Large 20metre sperm whale. It was just at the surface breathing through it blow hole and chillin out. We circled the plane around the whale for about 10 mins so that we could get some good photos…before the whale disappeared below the surface…as it did we saw it's big tail come out of the water. It was quite amazing.
We left the sight and we felt satisfied…but certain that we would not see another as he said you on average see one whale per flight. We soared about the bay and Kirst being the amazing whale spotter that she is…spotted another!This time as we circled the whale…the boat saw us and followed so that the people on board could see the whale. I am very proud that my wonderful eyesight created lots of pleasure for the people on the boat! They owe me I would say!
So two whales…that's quite amazing I would say! So when we saw another 3 in our flight…totaling 5. It was an exceptionally worthwhile trip. The pilot even said that he was amazed as there was only 7 known sperm whales living in the bay. So yet again…our luck was in!
After the thrilling experience of the morning…we decided to go to the seal colony in the afternoon. We arrived and were very disappointed at the number of seals at the colony. So we decided to go for a walk instead. After our little walk we came back and saw a huge number of Japanese (I guess) business people taking photos along the side of the road. I joked and said to Lee "there is seals here and they are taking pictures of the side of the road…how stupid!)
WRONG….we were the stupid ones. We had parked and walked along side over 20 Large seals to get to the rocks where we thought they would be. It was quite amusing as we felt quite stupid. I have decided that I don't like seals. They are grumpy gits. I was only taking a picture and one stood up and roared at me! Sorry! Mr Grumpy Gills! They are also very fat and lazy!
We also on the way home went to a sheep shearing show…which was interesting. I was quite upset as the farmer kept referring to the sheep as food! I know they are but I'm in denial!
After Leaving Kaikoura we headed along a beautiful stretch of road past the mountains which can be seen in the sheep shearing picture album.To picton next to catch the ferry! North island here we come!
Miss you all Lots and Lots
Love Kirst and Lee
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