Creatures of the depths

The drive south from Blenheim to Kaikoura is scenic to say the least. On one side you have the impressive Kaikoura Ranges with peaks towering to altitudes well over 2500 metres, and on the other side you have heaving blue waves as far as the eye can see. It is a good leg to have a private chauffeur for; me and Giigan certainly weren't complaining as Sanna drove!

Kaikoura is a picturesque, smallish town located at the foot of a peninsula shaped like the tail of a whale. At least if you have a bit of imagination. If it wasn't for the rich marine life of the waters off the coast, Kaikoura might very well just be a drive-through place for tourists. As things are though, Kaikoura is a lively tourist town, most famous for being the place in New Zealand if you want to see whales. Whale Watch is the only marine-based whale watching company in the country. They operate around the year and have a 95% success rate of spotting Giant Sperm Whales. If you're lucky you might see other whale species too, depending on the time of the year.

Together with Sanna and Kaisa, I went on a whale watch tour in Kaikoura. It's not the cheapest thing you can do, but worth every dime without a doubt. We were blessed with fine weather (once again): the sun was a lonely fiery eye in the cerulean vastness of the sky, there was hardly any wind and the sea was calm. A perfect day to spend a couple of hours on the waves spotting the magnificent creatures of the depths that whales are.

As the ship set out, we quickly got to see our very first Giant Sperm Whale because another ship had discovered it bobbing on the waves, preparing for its next dive. Every once in a while we got to see a fountain of spraying water push into the light sea breeze, as it breathed out and the water in its blowhole was cleared. Otherwise it just seemed to float there, content and utterly oblivious to the two floating pieces of aluminum shadowing it. To us, it appeared very much like a gnarled old tree trunk, albeit one shrouded in an aura of suspended vehemence; like any moment, this gentle behemoth could erupt in an awesome display of power, so perilous for the early whalers. Although only a fraction of its immense body was visible, you could feel the "iceberg" looming underneath the rippling surface. Primeval. Majestic in its solitude. A conqueror of the abyssal darkness beneath, whose roof we were traversing like a satellite across the starlit celestial sphere this very instance...

Having oxygenated its blood, it took speed by arching its back once, twice, thrice, and exposed its tail in a graceful motion, rivulets of water running off the triangular flukes like rain on canvas as they rose from one element to another. But before you knew it, this grand gesture of farewell had been substituted by a foam-tipped whirling disturbance in the ocean's natural sinusoidal, tender roll. The whale had blessed us with its presence and now sped on its inchoate descent towards the silent depths. The beautiful monstrosity was returning to its hunting ground.

The Sperm Whale raising its triangular flukes high out of the water before a deep dive.

Reverberating, its engines coming to life in a rumbling roar, our vessel turned around and rapidly gathered speed moving away from where the whale had disappeared. The crew informed us we had plenty of time to try and locate another whale. As Sperm Whales only surface for an average of 8 minutes between their up to 90 minute dives, technology is used to track diving Sperm Whales, anticipating their ascent. Because Sperm Whales use echolocation to navigate and find food, the whales can also be roughly located by listening to the beam of high-frequency clicks they produce while submerged. So every once in a while, our ship would stop and turn its engines off to let the captain lower a hand-held sonar into the water. Through the headset he was wearing, he listened for the clicks as he turned the sonar in various directions.

Through this method we did get on track of another Giant Sperm Whale, but ultimately it wasn't the modern device that spotted the whale. It was one of the crew keeping a lookout on the sundeck of our vessel, seeing the misty plume of the whale's blow in the distance.

Another Whale Watch catamaran and a Giant Sperm Whale clearing its blowhole. The Kaikoura Ranges and Peninsula in the background.

So we got to marvel at another one of these giants, this time a lot longer since it had only recently surfaced. The hissing clearance of its S-shaped blowhole. The lazy sunbathing like forgotten flotsam, a dark void in the glimmering sea. The smooth "wave" of the tail which is the finale of its show; the courteous gesture of parting. "See you again."

Before returning to port, we got to enjoy the sight and acrobatic skills of the highly gregarious Dusky Dolphins. The crew estimated that there was about 500 of these playful mammals in the pod. Like most dolphins, they weren't shy of the ship, but came close and rode in our bow water. Further out at sea a couple of them were creating huge splashes as they momentarily soared above the waves like low-flying albatrosses, only to be pulled back into their aquatic home by the chains of gravity.

Playful Dusky Dolphins.

Such was our excitement watching this congregation of sleek beauties, that we were truly disappointed when the ship had to turn back to port. Oh well.

Moving on from Kaikoura, we followed highway 70 inland towards the alpine town Hanmer Springs. Hanmer Springs is a popular weekend destination for people living in Christchurch, since it's only 1½ hours drive away. Hanmer Springs is the main thermal spa resort on the South Island. Besides getting your skin revitalised you can also do a number of walks in the mountainous terrain and ski in winter. Our options turned out to be pretty limited as there was no snow (February, d'oh!) and EXTREME fire danger in the whole area had forced the Department of Conservation to close all walks in Hanmer Springs. The temperature on the day of our arrival reached a staggering 35 degrees (Celsius)! The fact that the air was hardly moving at all between the rocky slopes of the Hanmer Range made our stay nearly suffocating, but we didn't let it deter us from having a good time.

There are excellent views of a broad river valley if you drive towards Lewis Pass from Hanmer Springs for half an hour. The valley is probably at its best in spring when the snow on the mountains melts and comes roaring down, however, it wasn't bad for us in the middle of summer either. In the evening we enjoyed a delicious self-put-together cheese platter and local wines at our hostel, the Kakapo Lodge, before suffering a poor night's sleep tossing and turning in the heat.

Group photo by the river valley of Waiau River.

Next day (9th Feb) Giigan and the girls tried out the spa (which they were very pleased with), before we drove on to Christchurch in the afternoon. We had dinner and spent a nice evening at the cosy Italian restaurant Café Valentino on Colombo Street. Beware, their Apple Crumble Cheesecake can prove to be a bit too much even for the most devoted cheesecake lover!

Dinner at Café Valentino in Christchurch.

Tuesday 10th February was the girls' last full day in Christchurch before their flight back to Wellington, and ultimately back home from New Zealand. The day was spent sight-seeing and shopping in downtown Christchurch, and ended with a successful dinner (beer and lamb stew) prepared by us two travelling amateur chefs. In a game of Risk at our hostel - the Foley Towers - something unprecedented (and nearly unspeakable) happened: we were both beaten by the girl team in this game of conquest and war, and neither of them had ever played it before! (A clarifying note to all of you feminists reading this: it wasn't the fact that we were beaten by two creatures of the lovely opposite sex that upset us, but the fact that we were both beaten by at-first-reluctant novices, period!) Well done girls! Your skills on the field of battle have been duly noted. We won't make the mistake of underestimating your prowess again ;-)

Time flies when you're having fun, but sooner or later today's date matches the one on the flight tickets. We thoroughly enjoyed having you Sanna and Kaisa visiting us. It was good to see some other familiar faces besides our own, and to share more than a few laughs at the peculiarities of life here on the other side of the planet. The telling in this blog of our road trip together should give our other readers a pretty good idea of what you have time to do in New Zealand on a two week holiday. We sunbathed on the best of beaches, swam in crystal clear seas, got cultural at the national museum, had our taste buds challenged touring wineries, felt the pulse of a capital, admired beautiful endangered species, indulged ourselves at a spa in alpine views, walked through vibrant native forests, goggled at some of the largest creatures on Earth, and much much more. Quite diverse activities if you ask me.

We hope you enjoyed travelling with us and liked what you saw of New Zealand, because (as Giigan and I have been able to ascertain later on) you haven't even seen the best this country has to offer yet; Te Anau, Milford Sound, Doubtful Sound, Queenstown... you won't run out of things to see and do if you decide to return in the future, that's for sure.

We are falling behind in our writing quite a lot, but we'll try to catch up as best we can. It's just that too much has happened during the past two months, and there isn't that much time to write, organise pictures and prepare the blog. Anyway, next time we'll tell you about impressive Dunedin, the university city that has a Scottish vibe to it!

MORE PICTURES from this last leg of our journey together with Sanna and Kaisa are available by clicking this link. Enjoy!