Rhod and Anna's World Adventure

I'm sure you all know how to find Wales. Head West out of London down the M4. Pass the towns of Reading, Swindon, Bath and Bristol. Pay the toll and you are there. Easy I'm sure you will agree.

Today we went hunting for whales. Not so easy to find as there is no motorway in the Ocean and also no signs.

We are in Kaikoura on the East Coast of the South Island of New Zealand and this is the place to see whales. Unfortunately for the financially challenged it is not as easy as standing on the beach and looking. You need to pay money and go either on a boat or in a plane. We don't have the money for the plane so we elected to go by boat, but we were wise enough to invest in a packet of sea-legs tablets just in case.

As the boat set off at a slow cruise on the calm waters by the marina we were laughing at the fact that we had been so paranoid about getting seasick. Our smiles turned to mild panic however as the boat revved its engine and set off at a blistering pace. The graphics on the big screen inside the boat showed how far we were from land, the bearing at which we were travelling and the depth of water below us. To help with this last fact, the guide measured this against the Auckland Sky tower which is 328 metres high. When the depth was shown to be the equivalent of 4 sky towers we started to panic. The swell of the waves when we first stopped to look for whales was about 2 metres high. Bring on the chundering! Not from us luckily, but from about 8 members of the party.

In order to locate the whales the captain would stop the boat, don a pair of headphones and dip what appeared to be a lashed up micropone on a stick in to the Ocean. This was a sonar microphone that can pick-up the song of the whales. I'm sure you all know what the song of a whale sounds like. People wearing tie-dye can often be found listening to it whilst meditating.

Success! There was a whale in the area and we just had to keep our eyes open and look for the blow of the water. Apparently sperm whales grow up to 20 metres long and their blowholes are big enough for you to put your head into (should you feel the need!) Our first whale was Little Nick. When he surfaced the atmosphere on the boat changed. We were given a break from the chundering and everyone was just silent. It was incredible. The photos don't do these creatures justice. They are huge and you can't help but just stare. They float on top for about 5 minutes before preparing to dive back down under water (which is when you see their tails) and they stay down there for about 30-40 minutes.

So off we went in search of our next one. This proved a little harder to find. Lots of boat stops and more comedy microphone moments from the captain. She could hear clicking which meant that they were underwater but not coming up just yet. We persevered and the waiting paid off. Noodle appeared and was kind enough to do his diving and tail trick against the backdrop of the mountains affording us all postcard-quality photos. And yes, Rhod really did take this picture.

We returned back to the marina via a wandering albatross and another colony of fur seals. It was a pleasure to finally reach dry land. We were content with our morning of whale fun but by the end the boat had started to smell of vomit.

http://www.whalewatch.co.nz/