Quake and Whale!

We left Marlborough on Monday morning in glorious sunshine and stopped briefly in Blenheim which is the largest town in the area. It was though very quiet being a bank holiday.
Our drive down to Kaikoura was great. It took about three hours and we were in no hurry so stopped several times to admire the stunning views of the coastline to our left and mountains, some of which were snow capped to our right. There was quite a lot of traffic again due to the bank holiday. I have to qualify that comment compared to what we see at home. As we neared Kaikoura we started to see more evidence of the devastating earthquake they suffered just three years ago. From about five miles out the road that was completely destroyed is still being rebuilt so it is quite slow through this area.
Kaikoura is an attractive town in a large bay and to quote directly from our guide boo,k:
“Few places in the world are home to such a variety of easily spottable wildlife: whales, dolphins, NZ fur seals, penguins, shearwaters, petrels and several species of albatross live in or pass by the area”.
The earthquake that struck in 2016 cut off the town apart from air and sea for several weeks and was so severe that it allegedly moved the South Island 5 metres closer to the North Island!
Today we went out on the Whale Watch trip which lasted for about three hours. There can be no guarantee as to what you may see but if you don’t see a whale 80% of your fare is refunded. We were fortunate in seeing a sperm whale. Now these are really huge. They can spend between thirty minute and an hour underwater before having to surface to take air on board again and this is when we see them. The experienced crew on the boat had all the kit to be able to track the whale and give us a first class view. We were also able to see albatross and a few small dolphins. This afternoon we went for a good long walk round the headland and saw sea bird colonies and seals resting in the sun.
Our B&B here is once again excellent. The views from our ground floor room are sensational looking out over the bay to the mountains beyond! Chatting to Julie, the owner, at breakfast this morning it transpires that she is also the town’s deputy mayor a position she has held for the past ten years. She was anxious to show us pictures of her with Boris Johnson who had visited Kaikoura shortly after the earthquake.
Julie also told us that the town is preparing itself for the visit on 23 November of Charles and Camilla who are visiting here and Christchurch to see the recovery from recent earthquakes. We’ve heard that a recent poll in the town revealed that 92% of the population is not in favour of the visit. This is due to the cost and upheaval. If it was William and Kate they wouldn’t mind.
Tomorrow we leave Kaikoura and head south to Christchurch.
Apologies no photos on this blog, problems in downloading to the app. I will attach a few to email.Read more