We headed Wednesday morning for Kaikoura...a beach town know for their pod of Sperm Whales...it helps that the continental shelf is only 1/2 mile from shore. The sperm whales feast on the elusive giant squid down in the deep.
When we arrived it was cold and stormy, but we headed out on a coastal walk, and spotted all kinds of sea life! In this picture is a fur seal and a sea bird..thought it was a penguin at first..but later noted that it had wings (trying to fool us!)
We made our way down to the water and found a bunch of napping fur seals. You could get pretty close...but you could also get bitten...so we kept our distance!
Look at that face! I just wanted to rub their belly's....
Thursday we went out on a whale watch tour. We saw four large males. They float along, and then eventually dive down. Luckily, our guide could read them well, and would say "camera's ready!" so that we could get the perfect picture....
Look at that tail! Some can hold their breath for over an hour...so once they dive, say goodbye!
The restrictions were not quite as strict as in the U.S., we were able to get quite close. Us...and the "whale watch" plane, and the "whale watch" helicopter....kind of annoying. If sounded like a war zone. Luckily, they only allow 3 "annoying vessels" per whale.
The view from our B&B this morning, as we LEFT. Beautiful day! We finally got to see the coast range. Our B&B was great. Run by an 80yr old grandma...hot tea and muffins when we arrived in front of a fire, hot cooked breakfast every morning. We also met some great people...and even some our age! (We either run into young 20's...or older retired...not much in between!)
The view from up our street...Now on to Christchurch for two days of city life.....
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