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Hey here's blog number 3,231, well it feels like that number anyway.
O.k. before we got to Kaikoura and all the marine activities we stopped off at a place called Hanmer Springs for a little r & r. Hanmer Springs is a small little town which has developed into a tourist resort because they have hot springs running up from the ground. The have diverted these springs into little pools and developed the area into a little health type resort, the perfect spot to relax after all that glacier climbing. The pools ranged in temperature from 36 up to 41 degrees and were all based outside. This meant that although everything was rosy when in the pools, when you wanted to change to the next one it involved sprinting along and diving in before everything got too cold!! As the water was running directly from the ground a couple of the hotter pools absolutely stunk of sulphur, basically eggs! However even the smell of eggs did not put as off and we chilled the day away in the pools with the green mountains all around, its a hard life!
After Hanmer Springs we hit Kaikoura and did the main Kaikoura activity of whale watching. Even though Kaikoura is probably the best place in the world for whale watching your still not guaranteed to spot them, so off we set with our fingers crossed. The boat you head out on is a pretty fast catamaran and they have a few staff spotting on the boat so with any little glimpse of a whale your off like a shot before it dives back under the water for another 40 minutes. Well it wasn't too long before we managed to spot one these little beauties, one of the resident Sperm Whales. Now although these things are massive and the boat pulls up about 20 meters away there really isn't that much to see as most of them are under the water. However when they dive down at the end of their surfacing period that's when the magic happens and you get to see their huge tails come out of the water, proper stunning sight. Luckily we managed to see 3 of these little bad boys and even managed to capture a few pictures of their tails out of the water. Although we only saw Sperm Whales, a couple of days before some Blue Whales had been spotted and also the area does have Killer Whales and Humpback, now we know that we were lucky to spot 3 Sperm Whales but imagine if you saw the other guys, wow eh!
After satisfying our whale watching need, the captain turned the boat around and headed for shore, although with a slight detour to see some dolphins. Sorry did I say some dolphins I meant hundreds!!! This was in a way so much better than the whale watching as the dolphins (2 types dusky and common) were everywhere. They were all swimming with the boat, jumping out of the waves made by the boat. The water was pretty clear so you could follow them swim under water and then see where they were gonna come up and jump out. As you can imagine we took thousands of pictures and Linz is putting them on now, so be prepared there could be a few! We also got a couple of video clips so check out our video page as well. Now just to top off the trip we went past a load of rocks where fur seals and shag birds were sun bathing, a great end to a top tour.
Looking back at Kaikoura we can now totally appreciate how lucky we were, not only seeing all the animals, plus plenty of seabirds as well, but the day itself was stunning. We couldn't of asked for better weather and a top day was had all round, well except of Linz's delicate stomach, bless her she hasn't got the best sea legs. That's it for this latest blog, ciao for now.
Grant
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