Kaikoura Wildlife

This past weekend Michele, Richard, and I went to Kaikoura, which is about two hours away from Christchurch. When we first arrived, Saturday afternoon, the weather was cloudy and miserable and cold, although the scenery is still quite beautiful. We took a little walk out here on the South Bay.

We then stopped by the seal colony, where we saw quite a few seals up on the rocky shore and--a really pleasant surprise--up near the hedges next to where we parked the car. This seal is quite cute, but I wonder what happened to the pelt on its neck. He looks a bit hurt.

Cheryl asked for more pictures of me, and it's perfect to be included in an entry about wildlife. Arooo.

This seal was rather blobby. It's worth clicking on this photo to see a close-up of just what a blob this seal is.


After gawking at big lazy seals, we toasted our weekend with some delicious pints of beer. That's Richard and Michele. They'll be celebrating their 10th wedding anniversary next year, a great couple.


The next morning, bright, early, chipper, we boarded a whale-watching boat. Before seeing whales, a pod of dusky dolphins swam by. The ones in the wild are nothing like the ones I saw at Sea World as a kid. They don't have to jump through hoops to be truly beautiful, amazing creatures. I just loved how they swam together and half-rolled themselves over the current.

Unfortunately, I spent more time gawking than getting any decent photos.

Next we saw a sperm whale, whom the boat crew called Big Nick, because he too had some sort of gash, but on his dorsal fin. We saw Big Nick in two separate viewings. He emerged and submerged and then we found him again when he emerged for the second time. Sperm whales keep two tons of oil in their foreheads and no one really knows why -- to help them float back up to the surface after they dive 3000 meters? I liked that theory the best.

I didn't get good photos of the whale. I might have to borrow a few from Richard to show you. At any rate, here you can see the whale spotter with a long pole which he puts in the water so as to hear the whale's sonic-locating.

An albatross! Someone tell me you remember reading "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" at university?

Sunday was a spectacularly good day.

Like anyone, I like a good dose of culture. The Maori used these "Try Pots" in the whaling days.

Before returning home, we walked up the hill to a marae, a meeting house, where we saw a few interesting wooden carvings.