Briny Creatures: Penguins, Whales, Seals and Dolphins

Oamuru is a city that has lost its human inhabitants. It has wide pavements, much wider than the widest pavements in London and a main high street with an Anglican cathedral, two, double lane roads, separated by a wide, grassy divide but no traffic, a run-down railway station and lots of art galleries. When people colonise a geographical area, mostly they build churches and courts. In New Zealand, they build art galleries and coffee shops, usually combining the two. The town has I don’t know how many of both. Many of the buildings were built around the turn of the century and have either a gothic or a classical, symmetrical exterior that tells of a town once very wealthy. Indeed, it was the first port to send frozen New Zealand lamb to the UK and its wealth was built on lamb exports and wool. It also has a small harbour, a great little campsite on the harbour front itself, a brewery and a number of bars and restaurants. Perfect! I arrive at mid-day, am taken with the place and decide to stay.

In the evening, I go to a blue penguin colony attraction, which is great. Blue penguins are very small, only 30cm tall, max (blue, dinky little things) and it is fantastic to see them arrive in small groups, called rafts, from the sea, negotiate the steep, rocky climb to the colony nesting site and then run like mad to their nests. Or at least try. Often their body travels faster than their legs and they stumble and fall, in a good impression of slapstick circus clowns, looking around surreptitiously whilst on the floor to see if anyone has seen them fall and pulling themselves quickly to their feet in an exaggerated display of dignity. It is a closed colony, in that it is protected and a lot of emphasis is placed on subdued lighting at dusk, keeping is as quiet as possible so as not to disturb them. There are only 4 people watching, but a French couple are admonished at one point for gesturing too wildly and talking too loudly. I spend about 2 hours in the freezing cold, watching them arrive, 32 in total, each avoiding the two, harmless, languishing fur seals that ignore them with lazy disinterest. The penguins make a very characteristic sound as they communicate, like a chronic asthmatic, who breathes very hard and deeply with a gravelly rumble on the intake and then expels in a reedy shrill of relief on the exhalation. I leave after about 2 hours, having seen around 30 arrive home, feeling very privileged. On the way back, I see a number crossing the road in front of me and at the campsite there is an almighty asthmatic racket. They have populated the space beneath the wooden decking area that skirts the pre-fabricated kitchen and toilet buildings. Subdued lighting and minimal movement my arse! The raucous, lively little blighters have colonised half the bloody town! Fair play to them!

The search for whales was one of the most fantastic things I have ever done! I had seen a whale watching pamphlet advertising Kaikoura (pronounced Kaikoda in Maori) somewhere or other and it had stuck in my mind, so I head for that, arrive at the town, follow the signs and there is one place left on the boat, the last sailing of the day. I hesitate, but agree to go later this day (luckily, the next day the weather turned and all sailings were cancelled). We see 4 male sperm whales in total. Absolutely fantastic animals, about the same length as our 18 metre catamaran, but way heavier, at around 60 tons. They are the largest toothed animal on the planet and immense. Two guys stood as look out and when they saw a plume of spray, we were quickly ushered inside onto seats and the boat went like crazy mad to reach them before they dive, bouncing heavily off the hard water towards the surfaced whale, a long, black, sleek, glinting elongation in the water. They stay on the surface for about 10 minutes between dives, so to catch them in this vast expanse of water is quite special. 1 or 2 sightings per trip is good, to see 4 is exceptional! They are just amazing, diving to over 700 feet deep and staying underwater for as long as 2 hours. For communication, they use a sort of clicking noise, which can be as loud as 230 decibels, which is also loud enough to stun fish and squid. Isn't that just brilliant? That is louder than a Jumbo Jet. Truly amazing creatures!

I stay in the area a few nights, camping right on the black sand and grit beach and enjoying fires again in the evenings and then I follow the East coast road, past colonies of fur seals (lots and lots of them which stink heavily of badly rotting fish) to Picton and then the ferry to Wellington, across the Cook Straits, where 3 or 4 pods of dolphins, consisting of perhaps 5 or 6 individuals, follow the ship for a few miles. There was one that did continuous launches out of the water, spinning in the air and then crashing back into the water and then doing it again and again for maybe 10 or 11 times. It was obviously just doing it for fun. Just a larking around dolphin. Fantastic!

I stay for a few days in Taupo, at a campsite which has hot springs. It is just amazing to wake up in the mornings, go to the springs and to watch the sun come up, through the slowly rising steam from the water. There are two geo-thermal pools, one at a temperature of 41C and the other at 37C. The water actually comes out of the ground at 60C (at source it is 90C, 70 metres below the ground) and it has to be cooled down by running it through a fountain and a number of pools and cascades before it reaches the public areas. It is not treated in any way, apart from being filtered and it smells vaguely like dry wood smoke. At 8.30am there are only 3 people including myself in the two pools and I have the warm green water of the slightly cooler pool to myself for about an hour. My head is cold but my body is warm. Luverly!

What can I say? Just magnificent

Bloody Hell, Was I dreaming that?

Fur seal enjoying the Sun

A little test. How many Seals can you see?

This was amazing to watch. The large rock pool in the centre was full of seals, just playing around together. I counted at least 7, swimming backwards and forwards

A campsite with a view: Rarangi Beach

Orakei Korako Geo-Thermal Area. A very special place!

The water is very hot. Almost too hot to put your hand in for more than a few seconds

Mud, Mud, Glorious (Boiling) Mud!