Kaikoura, New Zealand
Lunch, that is. I gave all my lunch over the side into the South Pacific Ocean. It was a tiny boat, the waves came up over the mast and the Captain said he’d never seen it so bad . . . so far today. It was a fearsome gale. But nevertheless, with my eyes glued to the viewfinder, I pressed on to get a shot or two of the mighty Wandering Great Albatross off Kaitoura.
OK, it wasn’t that bad; no one else suffered like I did. The waves were maybe three feet high and I, like Lord Nelson, suffer from sea sickness on uncertain seas. And, without getting into too much detail, I was rather neat and orderly in my distress, heaving overboard and leaving no evidence that wasn’t immediately cleansed by the first wave when we were once again underway.
But what an interesting adventure it was, capping another different kind of day. That’s something Judy and I have noted: all 13 days in New Zealand has been unique. OK, sheep every day and magnificent views everyday but the experiences have all been unique. And if you’re keeping score at home, we’ve now completed 15 days of our trip (counting travel days) and so we’re over half way done in our 28 day journey.
We started the day after dawdling over breakfast. The jam was too good and the company too interesting to get away early as we’d planned. One couple at our B&;B was from the Czech Republic and were spending six weeks in New Zealand and Australia where their daughter and boyfriend now live. The other couple was from Medford, NJ. They are finishing a three-week trip and will have had 15 separate flights and are more than ready to get back home. They, like others we’ve met, are on trips set up by travel agents who, it seems, think that driving an automobile is something no self-respecting tourist would ever do.
We drove Highway 1 south from Renwick toward Kaikoura, a seaside town famous for seals, dolphins, whales and lots of birds, including the aforementioned Albatrosses, said to be the bird with the largest wingspan in the world. We stopped about 10 miles north of town at Ohau bay where we saw a number of fur seals lolling on the rocks, swimming occasionally and fighting among themselves frequently. Territorial squabbles, we’re told although no one animal seemed to dominate the rest nor was any real damage done. Seals have to have something to do while digesting their meal.
We got to the Albatross Discovery center at about 12:30 PM for a 1:00 departure. We signed in and got a bite to eat (MISTAKE) before meeting our guide, bus driver and boat captain Gary. There were three couples, one from the UK, one from Australia and us. The UK folks had actually met Gary in England when Gary was appearing at a bird watchers convention, promoting his company’s bird watching trips.
Gary looks the part of an aging sea captain: of ruddy complexion a lined face and a look that seems to be scanning the horizon for whatever might appear. He told me that he had circumnavigated Antarctica. “Took a year and oh, what a miserable trip it was. Heavy seas all the time. The calmest day was one with winds of 40 km/hr.” His trip was on a research vessel.
And yes, we did see three kinds of Albatrosses plus seven others. I’ll try to post a picture of one of each – I think I missed the Black Backed Gull buy hey, if you’ve seen one gull you’ve seen them all. We also saw some dolphins (“Don’t tell my boss I let you see dolphins. You’re not on a dolphin watching trip.”) And yes, we did get back to shore even though there were parts of the journey that I was sure it would never end.
Now we’re in our B&B with a sliding glass front overlooking the ocean. Unfortunately we can’t see the far side where, Julie, our proprietress, tells us, you can see snow-capped mountains. Maybe in the morning. Julie also mentioned that she had another couple staying with her who were on our trip. Sure enough, it’s the UK couple, Sylvia and Bret. We’ve hooked up and are going to dinner this evening. And it turned out to be another great dinner. Judy had the pork belly. I had some fish I’d never heard of but a very flavorful white fish. And there was hokey pokey ice cream, part of a three-ice cream medley homemade in the restaurant. I made a big deal about loving hokey pokey ice cream with the proprietress. When I paid the bill she gave a heaping cupful of hokey pokey as a take away gift. How am I, on my weakened and now stuffed stomach, ever going to down that tonight?
