Family Reunions
Sunday - A very nervous day, today was the day we aimed to buy ourselves a car, the rest of our plans in New Zealand hinged on todays purchase...and as usual Rachael was worrying about everything...How much should we pay? What about the mechanics check? What if the cars fails that? What if we don't find a suitable car? Ok so she may well have been over reacting but it was still rather nerve wracking!
In fact it turned out not as bad a we thought, doesn't it always! We found a car we like, negotiated over the price and even got the seller to pay for the new plugs it needed so that now she purrs like a cat! All for around 400 pounds! I even passed the mechanics test with flying colours and with a little TLC we may even be able to seel it for more than we paid. Bonus!
Now we are the proud owners of our own Automatic Nissan Primera, a little beauty.
That afternoon, while looking on the internet for cheap car insurance, we worked out that it would actually be cheaper for us to fly to Kaikoura to visit mum and Laura, then fly back to Auckland rather than driving down - which would take 2-3 days to get there, over $200 for the ferry one way, accomodation and food along the way, plus at least 3 tanks of petrol one way, of course then we would have to do it again to go back up to Auckland for our week volunteering on Tiri Tiri Matangi.
Our minds at rest that we would have a car ready and waiting for us when we return to the North Island in a months time, we booked ourselves onto a return flight to Christchurch. Then in true New Zealanders style, and to make the most of the beautiful day, we headed to the beach and had our first swim in the Pacific Ocean.
Monday - Al and Cath were back at work today, bless 'em, while we had an afternoon flight. We spent the first part of the day sorting bits and pieces for the car and packing.
At 4.15pm the Super Shuttle came by the house to collect us and take us to the airport, a very nifty little service that's cheaper than a taxi! Once we'd checked our bags in it was only a short wait untill we boarded the plane and were up in the air for the short flight to Christchurch, South Island. We passed over the massive expanse of Lake Taupo, only up here to you truly get an impression of the size of this volcanic crater, then over Cook Strait between North and South Island, past the Kaikoura Ranges and then down into Christchurch where the flat coast spreads inland and the abruptly rises into the impressive Southern Alps.
Even before we had collected our bags we found Mum and Laura waiting for us, we rushed over and gave them and MASSIVE hug! It was soooooo good to see them! As we collected our bags, headed to their cute little campervan, had some dinner up the coast and drove the rest of the way to kaikoura, we chatted and chatted and chatted..... By the time we arrived at the campsite in Kaikoura it was gone midnight and pitch black, fortunately mum and Laura had already set up the tent and we all collapsed in bed all talked out =)
Tuesday - Despite a beatutifully, clear night, we awoke to high cloud. It was still warm, so we decided to rent some bikes and went for a ride through Kaikoura Town, along the sea front to Kean Point at the tip of the peninsula, here you can get quite close to a colony of New Zealand Fur Seals that haul themselves onto the rocks to relax.
After a late lunch we drove along the coast to another Seal colony at Ohau Point, a little less touristy. The coastline here is so different to the sandy, white beaches that we have seen in North Island. Here steep mountains covered in dark green trees and bushes, drop straight down onto a rocky, pebbly, grey beach, since it was overcast the sea was a greyish, milky turquiose colour. The seals here were a little more active, squabbling between themselves on the rocks and swimming amongst the forests of kelp, some were even leaping right out of the water. There was also a colony of Spotted Shags and White-fronted Terns making the most of the sheltered rocky shore.
As we headed back to Kaikoura low, misty clouds descended on us completely obscuring the mountains and it started to rain...
Wednesday - Up and at it at 5am this morning, ready to go on the Albatross Encounter trip. It was still rather misty and raining lightly, but fortunately there was little wind and only a slight swell. We headed out over the Kaikoura canyon with our guide Alastair.
The deep canyon less than 100m offshore of Kaikoura is the main reason it has such a diverse range of amazing marine wildlife. In this canyon warm and cold currents converge creating upwellings which bring nutrients to the light rich surface waters. creating ideal conditions for plankton and zooplankton (the basis of the marine foodchain) such as Krill which attracts larger fish, squid and of course whales and dolphins! The deep waters of the Kaikoura Canyon provides excellent opportunities to see animals that are usually found very far offshore, such as Sperm Whales, Dusky Dolphins and oceanic sea birds like Albatrosses.
Today we were searching for those magnificent sea birds, the Albatross including the Wandering Albatross, with the largest wingspan of any bird in the world!
Once over the canyon we dropped a ball of frozen fish over board to attract the birds and then sat back and watched. Immediately a few birds started gathering, we moved around a little (flying birds are a very good indicator to others that food is around) and more and more birds started arriving. They were mainly gulls and petrels untill Rachael spotted a very latge bird flying towards the boat....Albatross!
In total we saw 14 species of sea birds, 8 new species for us including two different species of Albatross - The New Zealand White-capped Albatross and Salvins Albatross. Although we didn't manage to find any of the larger species of Albatross (we reckon they used the current bit of wind to get back to their chicks to feed them) we did have some amazing views of the birds that did turn up particularly the Salvins Albatross, a beautiful bird with its clean white head and dark, dusky eyebrow.
Back on dry land the rain came in, so we spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon relaxing in the little campervan. By late afternoon the rain had eased and we ventured out ro get yummy fish and chips. We ate them at South Bay, just on the other side of the peninsula, in the company of numerous Red Billed Gulls that squabbled around us over the scraps.
That evening the misty rain closed in again so we headed back to the campsite for an early night.
Thursday - Laura was back at work this morning, and it was yet again another misty morning with low cloud obscuring the mountains. The rest of us headed north to a town called Blenheim.
Once we passed the mountains it was as if we'd driven into another world. the clouds cleared to reveal a beautiful, sunny and warm day. The transformation in the ocean was stunning, no longer a greyish, milky turquiose blue, it was now a patchwork of shimmering, bright turquoise and deep deep blue. There was little wind and the water was really calm lapping gently at the pebbly beach.
We were now in the foothills, the rounded hills, stripped of bush and trees, were covered in dry yellowy, green grass that rippled across the slopes. Nestled in the midst of these hills, inland was Blenheim. We did a little shopping and had a little lunch before heading back to Kaikoura to pick Laura up from work. It was still sunny and warm but on the horizonwe could see clouds still covering the Kaikoura Mountain Ranges and as we drove back into the mountains the clouds and mist descended, and it cooled off.
Kaikoura was still overcast but a little brighter with lighter patches of sky bursting through to turn the ocean silvery, purpley grey. We drove round to South Bay to eat some dinner and watch the changing colours of the clouds, bluish grey to purpley grey with white wispy bits.
Dinner was almost ready when Lee uttered those magic words "I think I see an ORCA" The rest of us rushed to grab our binoculars, scanned the calm water and then.... Whoosh...we saw the blow and then the tall, dark dorsal fin of a male Orca!!!!! We watched him surface quite far offshore a few times, but with the aid of the telescope were able to get really clear views.
By now dinner was more than ready, we sat at a picnic table to eat still buzzing from seeing an Orca, Once we'd finished Rachael could not resist taking another look, just in case...After a couple of scans she announced..."ah guys, theres two of them now!" The others rushed back over and we spent the next 15 minutes watching 5 Orca surface regularly, then dive deeper before reappearing a little further along the coast. It was so calm you could see the blow hanging in the air, drifting away. Within the group there was even a young calf and its mother, you could just about see a smaller whale surface very close to one of the adults! Although distant it was an awesome sight, both Laura and Rachael we bouncing around in excitement! Soon the Orca disappeared into a bank of low bluish cloud that was creeping on from the mountains and it was time for us to head back to camo, tired but very very happy.
Friday - Yet another murky, misty morning....
Mum drove Lee and Rachael a few km down the coast to check out potential walks. We pulled into a carpark opposite the golf course, as we walked over the grassy crest and onto the dark pebbly beach the mist closed right around us so that you could not see more than 50m in any direction. However just off the shore, was a massive group of Hutton's Shearwaters feeding very close in. Mixed amongst the shearwaters were noisy Black backed and Red billed Gulls and silent, graceful White-fronted Terns. Swimming in the midst of all this activity was a cheeky, New Zealand Fur Seal.
Back in Kaikoura mum headed to work while we explored the town, investigating what activities there are including the possibility of diving.
Once Laura and mum had finished work we visited the local, small, cinema to watch a movie...very quaint.
Saturday - Yet again a murky, misty, rainy morning...more than a little frustrating I must say, as we headed to explore the local market.
By the time we got back to the campervan it had cleared and brightened quite a bit and so Lee and Rachael decided to try the forest walk up Mount Fyffe. As we drove higher however we entered the layer of low lying cloud and as we arrived at the start point for the walk we could not even see the trees on either side of the track, have to save that walk for a clear day we think....
Instead we walked over the peninsula from Kaikoura Town to South Bay. Not a bad walk with quite a few birds and nice scenery to admire. We met Laura at South Bay and after a quick cup of tea decided to head to Goose Bay, just south along the coast.
We stopped at Paia Point, the sea was calm and though the mist hung low over the mountains behind us the ocean was quite clear and bright.
We were just sitting in the van looking out to sea when Lee, who had been scanning with the scope, said...DOLPHINS! Boy he's on a roll!
Laura and Rachael jumped out the van with their binoculars and sure enough quite far offshore you could see dark bodies and fins breaking the surface. The view through the scope was crystal clear...Dusky Dolphins! There were so many surfacing together we estimated there had to be more than 200 out there!
Squealing with delight we watched as the fun began...the dolphins started leaping out the water, body slapping, tail slapping, somersaulting, back flips, front flips, twists and turns...even tiny little dolphins were getting in on the act! We watched for over an hour as they made their way back and forth along the coast until our eyes went squiffy from looking through the scope for so long!
Rachael was soooo excited, positively bursting with delight at watching these stunning creatures leap clear of the horizon...
At the same time closer to the shore a New Zealand Fur Seal was flinging around what looked like a piece of seaweed, closer inspection revealed it was an octopus that it had caught and was now whipping it from side to side to tear chunks off! The wildlife of Kaikoura simply blows you away!
Sunday- Sunshine! Blue Sky! Mountains!
The weather in Kaikoura is so funny and unpredictable, after 5 days of calm, misty, rainy weather we finally have a beautiful, sunny albeit a windy day. Then around lunch the cloud once again rolled in over the mountains and ocean, but this time straight above the sun bravely continued its battle to shine. A couple of hours later and as quickly as the mist had arrived it disappeared from the ocean, the sun bursting through to brighten and warm the day.
Just a relaxing and chilled day today, reading and writing the diary... early night tonight for an early rise tomorrow when maybe, just maybe that dream of swimming with dolphins might come true....
Sunday - A very nervous day, today was the day we aimed to buy ourselves a car, the rest of our plans in New Zealand hinged on todays purchase...and as usual Rachael was worrying about everything...How much should we pay? What about the mechanics check? What if the cars fails that? What if we don't find a suitable car? Ok so she may well have been over reacting but it was still rather nerve wracking!
In fact it turned out not as bad a we thought, doesn't it always! We found a car we like, negotiated over the price and even got the seller to pay for the new plugs it needed so that now she purrs like a cat! All for around 400 pounds! I even passed the mechanics test with flying colours and with a little TLC we may even be able to seel it for more than we paid. Bonus!
Now we are the proud owners of our own Automatic Nissan Primera, a little beauty.
That afternoon, while looking on the internet for cheap car insurance, we worked out that it would actually be cheaper for us to fly to Kaikoura to visit mum and Laura, then fly back to Auckland rather than driving down - which would take 2-3 days to get there, over $200 for the ferry one way, accomodation and food along the way, plus at least 3 tanks of petrol one way, of course then we would have to do it again to go back up to Auckland for our week volunteering on Tiri Tiri Matangi.
Our minds at rest that we would have a car ready and waiting for us when we return to the North Island in a months time, we booked ourselves onto a return flight to Christchurch. Then in true New Zealanders style, and to make the most of the beautiful day, we headed to the beach and had our first swim in the Pacific Ocean.
Monday - Al and Cath were back at work today, bless 'em, while we had an afternoon flight. We spent the first part of the day sorting bits and pieces for the car and packing.
At 4.15pm the Super Shuttle came by the house to collect us and take us to the airport, a very nifty little service that's cheaper than a taxi! Once we'd checked our bags in it was only a short wait untill we boarded the plane and were up in the air for the short flight to Christchurch, South Island. We passed over the massive expanse of Lake Taupo, only up here to you truly get an impression of the size of this volcanic crater, then over Cook Strait between North and South Island, past the Kaikoura Ranges and then down into Christchurch where the flat coast spreads inland and the abruptly rises into the impressive Southern Alps.
Even before we had collected our bags we found Mum and Laura waiting for us, we rushed over and gave them and MASSIVE hug! It was soooooo good to see them! As we collected our bags, headed to their cute little campervan, had some dinner up the coast and drove the rest of the way to kaikoura, we chatted and chatted and chatted..... By the time we arrived at the campsite in Kaikoura it was gone midnight and pitch black, fortunately mum and Laura had already set up the tent and we all collapsed in bed all talked out =)
Tuesday - Despite a beatutifully, clear night, we awoke to high cloud. It was still warm, so we decided to rent some bikes and went for a ride through Kaikoura Town, along the sea front to Kean Point at the tip of the peninsula, here you can get quite close to a colony of New Zealand Fur Seals that haul themselves onto the rocks to relax.
After a late lunch we drove along the coast to another Seal colony at Ohau Point, a little less touristy. The coastline here is so different to the sandy, white beaches that we have seen in North Island. Here steep mountains covered in dark green trees and bushes, drop straight down onto a rocky, pebbly, grey beach, since it was overcast the sea was a greyish, milky turquiose colour. The seals here were a little more active, squabbling between themselves on the rocks and swimming amongst the forests of kelp, some were even leaping right out of the water. There was also a colony of Spotted Shags and White-fronted Terns making the most of the sheltered rocky shore.
As we headed back to Kaikoura low, misty clouds descended on us completely obscuring the mountains and it started to rain...
Wednesday - Up and at it at 5am this morning, ready to go on the Albatross Encounter trip. It was still rather misty and raining lightly, but fortunately there was little wind and only a slight swell. We headed out over the Kaikoura canyon with our guide Alastair.
The deep canyon less than 100m offshore of Kaikoura is the main reason it has such a diverse range of amazing marine wildlife. In this canyon warm and cold currents converge creating upwellings which bring nutrients to the light rich surface waters. creating ideal conditions for plankton and zooplankton (the basis of the marine foodchain) such as Krill which attracts larger fish, squid and of course whales and dolphins! The deep waters of the Kaikoura Canyon provides excellent opportunities to see animals that are usually found very far offshore, such as Sperm Whales, Dusky Dolphins and oceanic sea birds like Albatrosses.
Today we were searching for those magnificent sea birds, the Albatross including the Wandering Albatross, with the largest wingspan of any bird in the world!
Once over the canyon we dropped a ball of frozen fish over board to attract the birds and then sat back and watched. Immediately a few birds started gathering, we moved around a little (flying birds are a very good indicator to others that food is around) and more and more birds started arriving. They were mainly gulls and petrels untill Rachael spotted a very latge bird flying towards the boat....Albatross!
In total we saw 14 species of sea birds, 8 new species for us including two different species of Albatross - The New Zealand White-capped Albatross and Salvins Albatross. Although we didn't manage to find any of the larger species of Albatross (we reckon they used the current bit of wind to get back to their chicks to feed them) we did have some amazing views of the birds that did turn up particularly the Salvins Albatross, a beautiful bird with its clean white head and dark, dusky eyebrow.
Back on dry land the rain came in, so we spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon relaxing in the little campervan. By late afternoon the rain had eased and we ventured out ro get yummy fish and chips. We ate them at South Bay, just on the other side of the peninsula, in the company of numerous Red Billed Gulls that squabbled around us over the scraps.
That evening the misty rain closed in again so we headed back to the campsite for an early night.
Thursday - Laura was back at work this morning, and it was yet again another misty morning with low cloud obscuring the mountains. The rest of us headed north to a town called Blenheim.
Once we passed the mountains it was as if we'd driven into another world. the clouds cleared to reveal a beautiful, sunny and warm day. The transformation in the ocean was stunning, no longer a greyish, milky turquiose blue, it was now a patchwork of shimmering, bright turquoise and deep deep blue. There was little wind and the water was really calm lapping gently at the pebbly beach.
We were now in the foothills, the rounded hills, stripped of bush and trees, were covered in dry yellowy, green grass that rippled across the slopes. Nestled in the midst of these hills, inland was Blenheim. We did a little shopping and had a little lunch before heading back to Kaikoura to pick Laura up from work. It was still sunny and warm but on the horizonwe could see clouds still covering the Kaikoura Mountain Ranges and as we drove back into the mountains the clouds and mist descended, and it cooled off.
Kaikoura was still overcast but a little brighter with lighter patches of sky bursting through to turn the ocean silvery, purpley grey. We drove round to South Bay to eat some dinner and watch the changing colours of the clouds, bluish grey to purpley grey with white wispy bits.
Dinner was almost ready when Lee uttered those magic words "I think I see an ORCA" The rest of us rushed to grab our binoculars, scanned the calm water and then.... Whoosh...we saw the blow and then the tall, dark dorsal fin of a male Orca!!!!! We watched him surface quite far offshore a few times, but with the aid of the telescope were able to get really clear views.
By now dinner was more than ready, we sat at a picnic table to eat still buzzing from seeing an Orca, Once we'd finished Rachael could not resist taking another look, just in case...After a couple of scans she announced..."ah guys, theres two of them now!" The others rushed back over and we spent the next 15 minutes watching 5 Orca surface regularly, then dive deeper before reappearing a little further along the coast. It was so calm you could see the blow hanging in the air, drifting away. Within the group there was even a young calf and its mother, you could just about see a smaller whale surface very close to one of the adults! Although distant it was an awesome sight, both Laura and Rachael we bouncing around in excitement! Soon the Orca disappeared into a bank of low bluish cloud that was creeping on from the mountains and it was time for us to head back to camo, tired but very very happy.
Friday - Yet another murky, misty morning....
Mum drove Lee and Rachael a few km down the coast to check out potential walks. We pulled into a carpark opposite the golf course, as we walked over the grassy crest and onto the dark pebbly beach the mist closed right around us so that you could not see more than 50m in any direction. However just off the shore, was a massive group of Hutton's Shearwaters feeding very close in. Mixed amongst the shearwaters were noisy Black backed and Red billed Gulls and silent, graceful White-fronted Terns. Swimming in the midst of all this activity was a cheeky, New Zealand Fur Seal.
Back in Kaikoura mum headed to work while we explored the town, investigating what activities there are including the possibility of diving.
Once Laura and mum had finished work we visited the local, small, cinema to watch a movie...very quaint.
Saturday - Yet again a murky, misty, rainy morning...more than a little frustrating I must say, as we headed to explore the local market.
By the time we got back to the campervan it had cleared and brightened quite a bit and so Lee and Rachael decided to try the forest walk up Mount Fyffe. As we drove higher however we entered the layer of low lying cloud and as we arrived at the start point for the walk we could not even see the trees on either side of the track, have to save that walk for a clear day we think....
Instead we walked over the peninsula from Kaikoura Town to South Bay. Not a bad walk with quite a few birds and nice scenery to admire. We met Laura at South Bay and after a quick cup of tea decided to head to Goose Bay, just south along the coast.
We stopped at Paia Point, the sea was calm and though the mist hung low over the mountains behind us the ocean was quite clear and bright.
We were just sitting in the van looking out to sea when Lee, who had been scanning with the scope, said...DOLPHINS! Boy he's on a roll!
Laura and Rachael jumped out the van with their binoculars and sure enough quite far offshore you could see dark bodies and fins breaking the surface. The view through the scope was crystal clear...Dusky Dolphins! There were so many surfacing together we estimated there had to be more than 200 out there!
Squealing with delight we watched as the fun began...the dolphins started leaping out the water, body slapping, tail slapping, somersaulting, back flips, front flips, twists and turns...even tiny little dolphins were getting in on the act! We watched for over an hour as they made their way back and forth along the coast until our eyes went squiffy from looking through the scope for so long!
Rachael was soooo excited, positively bursting with delight at watching these stunning creatures leap clear of the horizon...
At the same time closer to the shore a New Zealand Fur Seal was flinging around what looked like a piece of seaweed, closer inspection revealed it was an octopus that it had caught and was now whipping it from side to side to tear chunks off! The wildlife of Kaikoura simply blows you away!
Sunday- Sunshine! Blue Sky! Mountains!
The weather in Kaikoura is so funny and unpredictable, after 5 days of calm, misty, rainy weather we finally have a beautiful, sunny albeit a windy day. Then around lunch the cloud once again rolled in over the mountains and ocean, but this time straight above the sun bravely continued its battle to shine. A couple of hours later and as quickly as the mist had arrived it disappeared from the ocean, the sun bursting through to brighten and warm the day.
Just a relaxing and chilled day today, reading and writing the diary... early night tonight for an early rise tomorrow when maybe, just maybe that dream of swimming with dolphins might come true....
Labels: Kaikoura Family Reunion
posted by Lee Barber at
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