The 2 hour drive from Marlborough to Kaikoura is pretty epic. Unlike driving across Oz, the landscape is interesting and varied. Imagine if you will, driving from Derbyshire through to the Highlands of Scotland, but within a few hours. As we approach our destination, the road increasingly follows the coastline and when the snow-capped mountains begin to loom into view it just gets better!
Our Airbnb for two nights has been rated as one of the most dramatic in New Zealand. Upon opening the garden gate, it is immediately apparent why. Stunning views across the bay to the mountains. We are so taken with the view that we decide to open a bottle and order a takeaway, so that we can sit and eat whilst watching the colours change in front of us.
We wake in the morning to lovely weather, which is certainly not always a given in this part of the world. We head out to visit a nearby seal colony. From above, the whole area seems to be littered with seals, matched in number by the sea birds. As we wander along the beach we come across a lady who works for the conservation department. She informs us that it’s pup season. She points out two females that are studiously watching over new arrivals. 30 minutes old! They still look a little shell shocked to me – but very cute!
The lady explains that numbers are declining with an increasing number of stillborns this year. Many of the mothers are struggling to get enough food. Depleted fish stocks mean that they have to venture further into the open ocean, where a heady number and variety of predators await. Orcas roam these waters as do a myriad of sharks. Very sad. Great though that the conservation department are monitoring the situation and doing what they can to redress it. The experience in light of the conversation is a little bittersweet.
In the afternoon we take a boat trip to look for albatross. There are 17 species in this part of the world (who knew) and we’ve never seen one in the wild. We are very fortunate that they manage to scrape the minimum numbers required to run the tour. As a consequence there are only four of us on board – happy days. So, with my brain taxing itself to recall the Rime of the Ancient Mariner, we head out to sea.
At length did cross an Albatross,
Thorough the fog it came;
As if it had been a Christian soul,
We hailed it in God’s name.
I thought we would spend our time searching the craggy cliffs. As it is we head straight out to sea and within a relatively short space of time we discover that we are being followed by a Giant Petrel (which looks very like an albatross) and a Wandering Albatross. The latter having the largest wingspan of any bird on the planet, up to 3m!
I hadn’t expected to be quite so impressed by these creatures. They skim the water with their wings almost touching the surf, easily outstripping our boat. Others join and it’s a mesmerising experience to watch them circle us as we head out to the open water.
It’s hard to tear ones eyes away from the albatross, but sighting several very rare Beaked Whales, merits a brief pause in proceedings. The whales are known for being able to hold their breath under water for over three hours and being reclusive. Hence our fleeting glimpse from afar is all we are blessed with. Pretty cool though.
Once we are a goodly way out, our guide stops the boat and releases a bait ball off the stern. It’s awe inspiring watching as four species of albatross swoop in and jostle for position. There is a very clear pecking order and it’s amazing to see how much one of these birds can actually eat!
The gulls that join serve to provide scale. In addition to the Wandering Albatross we are treated to Royal, White-capped, and Salvin’s Albatross. Although the size of the Wandering and Royal Albatross are impressive, both Jenn and I like the rather fetching, if somewhat sinister, looks of the Salvin.
My telephoto lens serves me well as the birds approach the boat, but is useless once they land. They are simply too big!
We both absolutely love watching the birds. Even better, a percentage of our fee goes towards protecting the species from the local fishermen who are responsible for killing the birds in their thousands. Clearly, they don’t know what happened to the Ancient Mariner! 😉
Really fabulous day in Kaikoura!
Next day we bid a fond farewell to our Airbnb, or more specifically, the view, and start a 2.5hr drive. We listen to Matthew Perry’s autobiography on audio book whilst driving. For a comic actor, it is a truly depressing tale! Addiction is a terrible thing. But again, the scenery is stunning and goes a long way to offset Perry’s account.
We have one night in Christchurch to break up the journey. A former boss of mine, Rachel, originally from New Zealand, has recently moved back to the South Island and we are due to meet for dinner. Really lovely evening, reminding me why Pearson was such a great place to work when I first joined over ten years ago.
Next day the sun is shining as we make the 3.5 hour drive through Arthur’s Pass. What a stunning place. Castle Hill is like something out of a movie. In fact, it is out of a movie, serving as the location for the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.
Tempting to stop to take photos every five minutes and easy to see why the roads are so perilous. Distractions abound. To that end I manage to get given the bird by a New Zealand truck driver who clearly felt that he had right of way over a converged bridge. At one point I didn’t think he was going to stop – so getting his middle finger feels like a good outcome! 😉
We stay in Hokitika for a night, again to break up the drive as we head south. We go from bright blue sky at Arthur’s Pass to cloud and rain in Hokitika Gorge. The mountains really do create weather rapidly! Despite the weather, the gorge is an incredible turquoise colour. We also see a Weka. A large flightless bird. For one moment I thought it was a Kiwi. Sadly not. But still pretty cool.
Following day we continue our journey with a 2 hour drive. Although the weather is lovely as we leave in the morning, again it starts to become increasingly mixed as we head towards the mountains. We are due to take a glacier flight – but we know that it is very weather dependent. It is easy to get stuck on the mountains and the cloud and wind can make conditions extremely dangerous.
Less than £200 gets you a helicopter trip to the glaciers. It’s not super cheap – but it’s pretty good value. Fox Glacier and Franz Josef don’t look much from the ground – but are truly impressive from the air. Three hundred metre deep ice that stretches for miles. As we make our ascent, it feels like we have been transported by portal (or indeed a wardrobe) to a magical snowscape. It is beautiful. The glacier itself looks largely grey, but reveals sporadic pools of the brightest blue water you can imagine.
We are unable to land owing to the wind and approaching cloud, so aerial view only on this occasion. The landing would literally have been a few minutes for a picture, so we haven’t missed out on much. Grateful that we got to go up at all.
We manage to get a few walks in locally, given that the weather forecast for the next day looks dire!
True to form, the forecast is spot on. As I write, it has done nothing but rain today. Truth be told, that is fine by us. Relaxing day in front of the fire listening to Christmas music. Play several games of chess with Jenn, which is good fun. She always attacks right from the get-go, gets herself in a good position, loses concentration, and gets decimated!
We pop out to a local kiwi sanctuary in the afternoon. Reviews are pretty average, but the centre is responsible for increasing survival rates from 5% to 65% – so happy to visit and contribute a few quid to their coffers. The tour is actually pretty interesting and we get to see two juvenile Rowi kiwis. There are only about 600 left in the wild, and that is a marked improvement over the last few years.
In New Zealand, wildlife is neatly divided into one of two camps. Native and pest. The native wildlife has been decimated by invasive species. Imagine, ground-dwelling flightless birds, coming up against stoats, ferrets, cats, and dogs. They are simply not evolved to deal with such creatures. Thus, there are traps pretty much everywhere. New Zealand has a stated aim to be pest-free by 2050. It’s not going to happen, but they are making impressive inroads. I wish them well, as the kiwi is a very cool bird. Interesting fact – it has the second best sense of smell of any bird in the world, the first being the vulture!
With that, it’s time to do a sun dance before bed. A drive to Lake Hawea beckons tomorrow. TAFN.
The albatross looks amazing sad that we are constantly trying to protect species from ourselves.
I taught so much about glaciers, but have never seen one! Amazing photos of the Petrel and Albatross.