Day 8: Thursday 5th December
We set off through the town to the other side of Kaikoura and parked up at The Whaleway Station ready for our pre booked Whale Watch tour at 10.30. am. Wow! this was brilliant and we were so lucky with fantastic weather .
Before the tour everyone is invited into a room to watch a short film about the tour and to give you some safety information. Then at 11.00 you are taken by coach around the bay to board your boat. There is only one company that has the monopoly on these tours and it is owned by a traditional Maori family. It seemed to be well run and they really did seem concerned about conservation of these beautiful creatures. May be a little pricey at £75, $150 NZ p.p.
There were 3 members of staff on board as well as the captain. One was there to assist the captain in the direction of the whales and was ‘Chief Spotter’ using the underwater hydrophones and binoculars. The others gave us an amusing commentary and guided us for the best views. The boats are able to go really fast to get to the spot of a sighting and at one point we were all asked to be seated while the boat raced at 30 knots to get us to see another whale.
We were lucky enough to see two sperm whales breeching showing their magnificent tail fins, several humpback whales and lots of playful dusky dolphins as well as an albatross flying overhead. It turned out to be another highlight of our holiday.
After the whale watch we moved on towards our final destination for the day, Picton. Unfortunately it was a very slow journey due to multiple sets of road works. There were roadworks all around Kaikoura and beyond as they are now doing proper repairs after the 2016 earthquake. Before that they made good as quickly as possible to open roads again and now they are back doing a proper job. It is hard to imagine the devastation when you see Kaikoura today and think of not only the loss of roads and buildings but also the loss of the big income from tourism. What surprised us was the friendliness of the Stop/Go men and women who all had a smile and a cheery wave to every car that passed. As we went further north they were even sheltered by big sun umbrellas as by now it was pretty hot being in full sun.
It was 5 o’clock before we reached Picton but after dropping off the car and having a cup of tea at our B&B we had a wander around the harbour and over the Coat Hanger Bridge then found somewhere to eat. We didn’t want a big meal but we were able to find somewhere that was ok with a view over the harbour. We were staying at Glengarry B&B and although it had a sea view we were not so keen on it, partly being put off when we arrived by being asked to take our shoes off ! Although our room was quite pleasant we did get that feel of being in someone else’s house. The lady was quite friendly at breakfast time where we sat and enjoyed a conversation with the other guests, a German brother and sister in their 20s. When meeting all these people from other countries it always makes you feel bad that you can never communicate in their language and yet their English is perfect. Only 6.5-7/10 for this accommodation as breakfast wasn’t very generous either.
