Back to the plot. We
were a group of ten with two instructors, Ruby and Sam. They drove us to South Bay where firstly, we
were updated with how much the 2016 earthquake had radically changed the
landscape. We had noticed a large swathe
of pale rock along the shoreline on our way south last night. It looked like the rocks had been covered in
concrete. In fact, the earthquake pushed
the earth up to such a degree that it exposed this whole new section of rock to
the air. Great news for the seals –
their habitat grew massively overnight!
Strange for the locals to get used to a completely new look around the
place.
In our pairs we were kitted out with wind-proof jackets,
waterproof ‘skirts’ and dry bags for our personal items (right). We made the risky decision to take my Nikon
camera out with us as well as the GoPro.
Fingers crossed the dry bag lives up to its name and we have no
unscheduled capsizing. Having tried our
kayaks for size and been given some steering technique advice we launched into
the bay. The wind had changed slightly
since yesterday, so they were expecting it to be a little choppy, but it really
wasn’t bad going. We had only been
paddling ten minutes or so when one of our guides spotted a rare sight – a
wandering albatross taking an interest in a small fishing vessel nearby. I have never seen an albatross before and,
despite it being a distance away, it was still possible to perceive its
impressive wingspan. I managed to get
the Nikon out and get a few snaps before it flew off. Due to having my expensive camera around my
neck it was best for me not to paddle… too much splashing you see! I was happy to be having a workout but
instead Simon got to complain that he was doing all the work while I held my
camera up in the air to keep it out of any saltwater spray!  |
| My best albatross photo |
 |
| Kayak's eye view... |
We saw our first Fur seal of the day having a swim. It was not at all bothered by the spectators
around and just seemed to be blissfully rolling over in the cooling waters and
cleaning itself:
We made it into a protected bay area where there was a buoy
that we attached ourselves to in a ‘raft’ of kayaks. This was lucky as Simon
had found that he was too big for the kayak we were in and had cut off the
blood supply to his feet, so he managed to get some respite from this by
sitting on the back of the kayak and stretching his legs. There were seals all
around us. On the rocks and in the water.
This area contains mostly male
seals busily putting on weight by spending their lives just eating and
sleeping. Hopefully, in a combination of
stills and GoPro we got some good footage. There was the option of going for a paddle
out to try and find dolphins or do some wave kayaking but there was so much
activity with the seals in front of us that we opted for the lazy option and
stayed put. I’m glad we did, we didn’t
miss any dolphins and, with the numbers reduced we were getting seals swimming
right passed our kayaks. We spent
a couple of hours in the water and were glad we’d made the choice to take our
best camera with us to get some quality shots.
After some coffee and a bite to eat in Kaikoura it was time
to hit the road south again.
After the
disappointment of not having seen dolphins this morning, it was slightly made
up for when we saw literally hundreds along the coast as we drove through some
more roadworks on the coast highway. Maybe
we didn’t get anywhere as close as we could have been in a kayak, but they were
leaping everywhere in numerous separate pods. It was great to see such a number of dolphins
and we could see why this section of the coastline is a hotspot for wildlife
tours.
Tonight is our last night in this camper. In fact in ANY camper for….. who knows how
long?! It really signifies the end of
our Aussie/NZ adventure. So, where to
spend our last night? We could have just
gone straight into Christchurch but that seemed a shame as the City campsites
never have the charm and scenery of the more rural ones. We opted for a campsite right by a beach in
Leithfield which gave us a mere 40 minutes travelling time tomorrow to reach
Christchurch. We felt it was safer to be
as close as possible to the City with the weather predictions looking dismal
for tomorrow.
We arrived by 4pm and the weather was already
closing in making it too cool and blustery for me to have a swim.  |
| Looks like there's a storm coming... |
No comments:
Post a Comment