I booked Cj and myself into 2 exciting tours in Kaikoura whilst on the greyhound bus in Australia, so i was looking forward to visiting this place for a while.
We were welcomed into Kaikoura with a bus ride along the coastal road showing off a bright turquoise sea with mist floating above it. The town was a cute lil seaside town.
Our hostel was really nice and had an amazing view of the mountains surrounding Kaikoura. We arrived pretty early so we decided to do the popular walk around the peninsular. This walk takes you along the coast through the town to the cliff. We arrived to a colony of seals, just chilling on some rocks. We managed to get really close to them as they seem pretty used to people. We walked around the corner to a carpark to climb the view point and there was a seal just chilling on the walkway decking around the car park. It was bazaarr. Once we viewed the amazing view from the cliff we were about to head back down until Cj mentioned that he would like to do the 3 hour trek round the peninsular to the other aide of the town. It was about 5pm so it was gonna be a long walk. We made it back into town after the trek at about 8:30pm. The views were so nice.
We decided to treat ourselves to a meal at a restaurant as we were starving.
The next day we were up at 9am for our first tour. Thankfully it was a clear, sunny sky so the tour wasn't going to be cancelled. We were going to do the famous whale watching tour. We arrived at the tour centre ready to check in an were warned that the sea had a 2 metre swell which meant a high chance of sea sickness. I bought a sea sickness tablet from them just incase as i did not want to take any chances, Cj decided to risk and and simply said 'if i'm sick, i'm sick'.
We boarded our boat after a short coach ride to the port. The boat housed about 50 people. We were introduced to our moari tour Guide and he went through health and safety and gave us detailed instruction on what to do if were sick. Lovely!
We set off on our specially made boat into the deep sea. Its common to see 2 whales on a tour so we just had to wait until the staff spotted one. They have special instruments that go under sea, ad it picks up the noises whales makes.
Suddenly our tour guide yelled whale. He said its 6 miles away and that our boat was going to put the gas peddle down to get there in 6 minutes before the whales disappears. Te boat was up and down an skimming right over these waves. As soon as we arrived the 2 side doors swung open and everyone had to run out to catch the whale. It was amazing seeing this huge whale the size of our boat just floating on the surface blowing out of its blow hole. When it bobbed up you could see its eyes. After about 1 minute of watching it bob (and try to keep our balance over the huge waves) the tour guide was very enthusiastically telling us to get ready for the next part. The whale dived up an down by arching his back and flicking his tail at the end before disappearing.
That moment lasted all of 4 minutes but it was an amazing sight that felt like there was no clocking. Cj and myself felt blown away at seeing a whale.
We were lucky to see our first whale in the first half hour of our tour so we had another 1.5 hours of whale racing. After the whale has disappeared we have to sit back inside the boat and wait for another sighting (this is where the sa sickness happens, the waves were literally 2 metres high and we were up and down. Luckily neither Cj and i were sick. I was feeling the motion in my belly but i was distracted by the whales to notice it. However, for other people it was a different story)
This tour was actually really adrenaline fuelled. We were up and down, racing out the door to see the whales, constantly looking out for whale blows and we were buzzing for the whole day.
We managed to see 6 whales and one of them was on the surface for ages that we all just watched it for a good 10 minutes. We got so close.
On our way back to the port we caught up with some dusky dolphins (about 8). We were lucky to be standing at the front of the boat that these dolphins we jumping in and out of the water, racing the boat only inches from us. That was a real bonus to the tour.
Miserable day so out tour got cancelled. Unfortunately die to the weather, this day was a bit of a right off. It rained pretty hard all day.
We woke up on our last day praying for no rain. Our tour was moved to the next morning and as we had to catch a bus at 3pm it was our last opportunity.
It wasn't raining, just a bit grey. Luckily our tour was finally on after being moved again to later in the day. It was cutting time short before our bus but it was worth it.
Our tour was seal swimming. There is loads of seal colonies in Kaikoura and this tour allows you to swim with them in the sea.
We got kitted up in proper deep sea diving wet suits so our guess was that the water was going to be cold.
We got driven to the boat ready to be taken out to sea. The driver took us out to island which was full of resting seals. Unfortunetely as it was a cold day te seals were not quite hot enough to get in the sea and cool off, so the tour had a bit of a slow start.
We were in the water for about half hour just waiting for the seals to come in. It was cool watching them go about their day on the rocks though. The water was actually freezing. It was difficult putting our heads under.
Eventually a few seals came into the sea and they are so playful and interactive in the water. I was amazed. They tease you by swimming in and around us. They came so close. Cj was getting really close to some seals. They seemed to like him. Their movements in the water are so elegant.
After about 2 hours i was blue. I decided to get back in the boat and watch for the next half hour. Cj stayed in with the seals.
After this tour we warmed up and got on our bus back to Christchurch. It took me the rest of the day to actually warm up but it was worth getting that cold.
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