Kaikoura Whale Watching and Mount Fyffe

We were up early this morning to get a big breakfast in (porridge, toast) before our very exciting whale watching flight at 9. We made it to the airfield in the nick of time for an intro into the Kaikoura area, why there are so many whales and dolphins there, and the sperm whales themselves. The Pacific and Australian tectonic plates meet in a line running along New Zealand north to south (hence so many earthquakes) and lie beneath the coastline at Kaikoura. This means the sea bed is ridiculously deep here, therefore giving the whales plenty of swimming space. This, coupled with the Antarctic current mingling with the warmer waters from the north and it’s a perfect habitat for the occasional whale (an incredibly simplified summary).

The weather was literally perfect for it, not a cloud in the sky and beautifully hot. The plane itself was a little 6 seater Cessna type plane, very small, and surprisingly comfortable. Both very excited we set off, and within a couple of minutes we saw a huge shoal of dolphins, there must have been 40-50 of them. Very cool. Very shortly after that we found our first whale lolloping in the sea with a couple of boats surrounding it. Sperm whales are absolutely massive. Once this one had dived (they dive to feed, can be up to an hour and a half underwater before coming back up to breathe) we headed onwards and the pilots keen eyes saw another couple of them in the distance. After looping around that one for a while our time was up and we headed back over the peninsula walkway we hiked yesterday and to the airfield. The flight alone was brilliant with the stunning scenery around up, and seeing both the whales and dolphins was just great. Definitely a recommended activity. Amelia didn’t even get too travel sick from it.

Next up was Mount Fyffe, a 1602m high mountain next to Kaikoura, which we’d seen from the plane that morning. The hike itself is pretty brutal, it’s a continuous climb, with no real flat sections, which is meant to take 5 hours. We lunched at the top looking out over the ridiculous views (still cloudless at this point). It wasn’t even windy, which is a first for any of the summits we’ve scaled thus far. I would recommend, however be prepared to work for it, the effort v reward ratio is pretty high on the effort side here.

The view from Mount Fyffe to the Kaikoura Peninsula

Getting back we feasted on some delicious barbecued rump steak and veggies and ended up back in the very comfortable tv room to write this blog and edit photos. Amelia’s managed to blow the fuse in her plug adaptor so may need to acquire a new one of those.