Maya was very keen that we stopped in the historic town of Napier – apparently famous for the entire town being built in the style of something called “art deco”. The whole town was destroyed in an earthquake in 1931, so it was all built at the same time, and in the same style. As a rule, I couldn’t care less about architectural styles, so I had no idea what to expect from an art deco town. But when I got there and saw some of the buildings I began to understand that art deco basically means everything looks like it did in the classic crime movie – The Sting. So I walked around humming the theme music from the movie while Maya took some photos of buildings. And it’s not just the buildings that have a 1930s feel to it – the town specialised in all kinds of memorabilia celebrating the period prior to the second World War. Which for some of the shops was just an excuse to host vast collections of gollywogs
Then it was off to New Zealand’s capital city, Wellington – home of the wellington boot and beef wellington. While in Wellington, my aunt’s sister Sue (and her daughter Nicola), were kind enough to give us a tour around the city. They pointed out all of the famous landmarks – including the new Wellington sign (like the Hollywood sign, given they are the key city for filmmakers, but reflecting the city’s windy reputation) and all three of the Parliament buildings (although 2 are not in use anymore).
The Wellington sign
But Wellington definitely wasn’t all easy-going. We were supposed to be catching the ferry from Wellington to New Zealand’s south island on Sunday morning, but for the entire time we were in town the entire city was buffeted by gale-force winds and constant rain. So our ferry got cancelled at the last minute meaning that we had to spend an extra day there. Being stuck in Wellington without accommodation or any idea when we would be able to get across to the south island could have been a bit of a disaster. But these things have a way of working themselves out. Sue and Nicola were kind enough to put us up for the night, and we got on a ferry early the next day. Maya tells me it was a pretty rough journey across the Cook straight, although I can’t say I really noticed it too much.
Maya, Nicola and Sue looking out across Wellington
We were glad to finally arrive on the south island. We thought that the scenery from the north couldn’t be beaten, but it just seems to keep getting better and better. Driving around the south island we go from views of the ocean to snow-capped mountains, to perfect blue lakes, to rolling hills. And all these can be in the space of about 5 minutes! Maya is generally too busy driving to be able to fully concentrate on the view, so I have to appreciate it for both of us. And nowhere had better views than Kaikoura, which was our next stop.
Like so many towns in New Zealand, Kaikoura is a tiny town built around one business. And in Kaikoura’s case – it’s whale watching. I’ve always wanted to see whales at sea, and Kaikoura is the home of a colony of sperm whales. So we booked with a tour company that took you out to sea whale watching, and if you didn’t get to see a whale then they would refund 80% of your money. Which was reassuring because I know a number of people who have been on whale watching trips and not seen a whale at all. And being a natural pessimist I was half expecting that we wouldn’t see a whale all afternoon, but that someone from the whale-watching company would randomly shout “there’s one!” at the last minute then claim that we had only missed it because we were too slow.
But finding whales turned out to be surprisingly easy (when you have a speedy boat and experienced whale-watching crew at your disposal). Five minutes after setting off from the harbour we had the first shout from a member of the crew that they had seen a whale. So our boat pulled up alongside and Maya started snapping like crazy. It was incredible how close we could get to the whale without seeming to startle it. The whale was about the same size as the length of the boat that we were on.
I won’t pretend that whales do a wide range of tricks to entertain visiting boats of tourists – noisy breathing and diving down to the bottom of the ocean pretty much sums up their repertoire. But it is just incredible to see these huge, powerful marine mammals up close and personal. And while they seem gentle enough at a glance, sperm whales are killers – they hunt and feed on normal, giant and colossal squid (amongst other things). Our boat captain said that while we were safe enough alongside or behind a sperm whale, you should never get in front of one as they can only swim forwards, and that wouldn’t be too great for either the boat or the whale.
My favourite of the 500 odd whale photos Maya took
Having seen a whale within the first five minutes made us feel pretty lucky. But ten minutes later we had seen two more. Then the crew took us off looking for dolphins, and we were followed by a group of Hector’s Dolphins playing around in the water . These are apparently the smallest dolphins in the world and very rare. Surprisingly Maya actually managed to get a photo of them – anyone who has ever tried to take a photo of a dolphin will know that you need a lot of chances to actually capture one as they zoom around like mini torpedoes. And intermittently circling the boat were various examples of the world’s largest type of albatross, with a four-metre wingspan. Finally, we bumped into two more sperm whales on the way back to the shore.
Two Hector’s dolphins
Even though I laughed at Maya for taking over 500 photos, it is great to capture the images of whales swishing their tails in the sea, in front of Kaikoura’s snow-capped mountains. And it should guarantee that the post-holiday slide show is nice and comprehensive, so there’s something for our friends and family to look forward to!
Maul's year out 