Kaikoura break!

This weekend we took advantage of the excuse that it was my birthday to have a "final" child free break....

Kaikoura was the chosen destination - about 2 and a half hours away from Christchurch.  This weekend was also the anniversary of the first earthquake so it was good to get out of town to escape the various community activities (e.g record breaking group hug).    Kaikoura is a coastal town with a reputation for whales.    We booked 2 nights in a campsite hut which was great and hit the water...

Luckily I wasn't to fat to be allowed onto the boat - although conditions were choppy (and people were throwing up witin 5 minutes) I was happy chomping into my banana, cereal bar and chocolate much to their disgust I am sure (hey I gotta eat...).  12 miles out we got our whales - 5 of them.... They don't do jumping through hoops or ball tossing to each other.  In fact they surface for about 5 minutes every hour or so so you ahve to be quick.  you also only get to see the very top of them so appreciating their size can be difficult.  Nevertheless they are amazing creatures and seeing them is extraordinary.   As well as the whales on the trip we also had visits from dolphins and New Zealand fur seals.  Also lots of Albatross (with a massive wing span of 3-4 metres - now you can't say I don't teach you anything!)....

 

Stunning backdrop

The ring of still water left after the whale dives...

 

 

Whale watching is hungry work and so next stop was this shack on the side of the road which did the most delicious seafood on the BBQ...

 

Then on to the seal colony.... where we found just the one baby seal which we didn't spot until Nathan nearly trod on it (it was well disguised as a  rock)

Seal with whale?

Later we managed to find a more populated seal spot - very entertaining.  Some seals had found their own private swimming/rock pools - others were sun bathing....

This one didn't like the look of Nathan much....

Just past theOhau seal colony was a great little walk through the woods to a waterfall and a pool where baby seals come to practice swimming and could be left in the pool by their mothers for days on end while she goes fishing - There was just the one seal in the pool but he put on a magical show jumping about - all just nature - wow!

(pictures not very clear as it was nearly dark - can you spot him?)

 

A view for the sunset...

Ahhhh what a good birthday.....

With the weekend not over on Sunday we did a little walk to a view point - 

Nathan hydrates for the walk on L&P - New Zealand's iconic answer to cola

2.5 people made it up the hill

The view - stunning!

 

Ahhhh  - perfect break away....