Yesterday morning, I left the charming village of Arthur's Pass (popln: 62). Dodging Christchurch, I headed for the coastal town of Kaikoura - known for its abundance of dolphins, whales, and seals. Apart from the fur seals, the waters off Kaikoura host both some of the smallest and largest members of the whale family. The Hector's dolphin averages about 1.4m long and is only found in New Zealand, while the sperm whale is the world's largest living toothed predator.
Today I went on a whale watching tour... which was cool because we saw many albatrosses and fur seals and a little humpback whale! And a 19 metre long sperm whale! Less cool because it turns out I do get seasick. Not as bad as a lot of people on the boat today - no throwing up or anything, but definitely not as enjoyable as the other boats I've been on down here. Of course, the weather was less than spectacular and this time the boat was actually out about 15 km in Pacific, above the Hikurangi Trench. This trench is cool because sperm whales only swim in deep water - at least 500m deep. Usually you have to go pretty far off shore to get to water this deep (I shudder at the thought), but this trench (3750 m deep at its deepest) is still deep enough 10 km from shore for sperm whales to come and feed. Its also one of the most productive areas of the ocean, meaning there are almost always a large number of whales down here feeding. So I got to see whales - that was cool!
Side thoughts which I may or may not have rambled on before: I was talking to an Aussie a little while back about cookies. Which they call biscuits. Not cookies. So I asked what they used to cut out things like gingerbread men. Answer? Cookie cutters. Not biscuit cutters. Ha. Don't use the word "garbage" - the proper term is "rubbish", and a "trash can" is a "bin." Also boxes of beer are referred to as crates. Its St. Paddy's day today down here, and when someone said they had a few "crates" of beer I definitely raised an eyebrow haha. Non-travel related note - Doctor Who starts again, soon, and so does the (filming) of Sherlock! :)
Its been cloudy for a few days, so no stars, but back at Tekapo you could really see them - and there were even a few bats! Arthur's Pass is the natural habitat of a large number of Kiwis (the bird kind, this time :p ). They're shy and nocturnal, but also quite noisy - you could hear them if you sat outside (when the train wasn't drowning them out haha). :)Tomorrow, off to Picton! (To get on a boat... :s )
Oh right, Helicopter Whale! So, naturally the crew of the boat suggested that we keep an eye out for whales, but to make sure that it wasn't a seal, or a log, or kelp, or a boat, or even (apparently this has happened) a helicopter before shouting "whale!!!"
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