What matter Whales?

Kaikoura, east coast NZ - 6-7 Dec, 2006
In Christchurch I also met up with a guy I had first met briefly back in Auckland, Michael Palmer. It proved to be a little short of the wisest rendez vous ever. M.P.'s a 42 year old, from Oregon, US, whose reason for being in NZ seemed to change with the drinks order: buying a yacht to sail back to the US, getting work with a ballooning outfit, buying a high end motorbike and scooting about NZ with his US girlfriend. When I met him he was 'working' on a business plan for a Maori artist and had bought some of his artwork to exhibit back in the States. Wha'...ever. Well, and I'm ashamed to admit it, despite this guy's tall stories of wealth, I lent him NZ$300 (c.100GBP) as he seemed to be living out of rubbish bins. I know, I know, I don't need a lecture and I should know better given my track record and age...but hey, maybe I've got a big heart and want to see the best in everyone...or maybe I'm just stupid...probably just stupid.

[As an aside, it turns out that M.P. had initially been blowing cash on his ex-work's Amex Card as they had neglected to cancel it when he was sacked. He had dropped somewhere in the region of NZ$20,000 on the card...according to M.P. Nice one and let me check...yup...highly illegal. They had got wise to it eventually and cut him off hence his transition from riches to rags. Funny that. I didn't know this before I lent him the cash.]

M.P. crops up later in my adventures but that's for another time.

Some people have a long list of messages - things to do in NZ - bungee jumping, jet boating, spotting a kiwi bird (I would recommend the Matterhorn Bar, Wellington), sheering a sheep etc. For me, it was pretty short - see what happens (as always) and go whale watching. Kaikoura on NZ's east coast is the place for whale watching and it was the perfect time of the year.

For the experience I caught the early morning TransScenic train from Christchurch to Kaikoura (along with M.P.). It was pretty scenic I have to say. On arriving in Kaikoura I discovered that my pre-booked whale watching excursion had been cancelled due to 'bad weather'. BAD WEATHER? This was the best weather I had experienced in NZ so far, clear skies and a mill pond Pacific. I think the problem was, they didn't know where the whales were. [Is there some strange parallel here with my quest to find a second hand copy of Moby Dick?...maybe so.] Seems that my adventures in NZ were being curtailed by the weather once again (bad or bogus). In a strange twist of fate we actually saw whales off the beach...a long way off admittedly but definitely whales.

We went fishing off the beach instead (equally fruitless), not for whales though. We then had a beach bonfire with some of our fellow hostel dwellers.


View from the TransScenic train.

Fishing off the beach in Kaikoura. Mainly just getting wet and not catching anything. Funny that. Maybe that was M.P.'s influence...maybe so.


A trip into Kaikoura 'town' on some Lady Shopper bikes borrowed from the hostel (Sunrise Lodge), which I have to say was first class (unlike the bikes...but hey, I'm not complaining).

Start of the beach bonfire. The lass in green & white at the back of the photo is called Jenny and she's from South Korea (I don't think that was her actual Korean name). During conversation it turns out that she has a 'gift': she could identify peoples' ailments through having a replica (phantom) sensation in her body to that which is troubling her 'subject'. I was most sceptical but she informed me straight away that I had a pain in my right shin. I did. It was from the six days' hiking in Fiordland and had been niggling me since we finished. Weird. She could also taste peoples' personalities...nice people gave her a sweet taste in her mouth, nasty people were more salty (OK, quit sniggering at the back!). Pity she didn't tell me that she got the taste of an eleven-day-old fish milkshake from M.P. Jenny also threw pebbles into my wine glass. I thought it was another strange psychic experiment thingy. Nope, she was just chucking pebbles into my wine glass for a laugh. Tcchhh.

Below are more views of the beach, sunset, bonfire and moonlight in Kaikoura. Nuff said.