A Whale of a Tail

Nov. 30

I spent most of my morning on the internet trying to find a place to stay for my next four days on the South Island. Because my back is bothering me so much I have decided to try and stay in one place and move around during the day or just rest if that’s what feels best. After several tries at places that were booked I call back one place and they lowered the price for me. It seems I will have the penthouse apartment on the beach in Nelson for the same price I paid for my little cottage in Punakaiki. That’s cool!

I then took a drive around Kaikoura to get a feel for the peninsulas and town. It really is quite spectacular with mountains falling right to the sea and this beautiful peninsula jutting greenly out into tremendously turquoise water. The town itself is rather quant with the normal amount of restaurants, souvenir and what-not shops. The B&B owners where I’m staying have had a gallery here for years and have closed it recently to remodel and re-open as a café and gallery. The owner, Judy, is very excited to be back in the restaurant business after being out of it for about 10 years. She’s crazy. J An older part of town along the waterfront has all the little,old style motels that were great fun to drive past and wonder how they stay in business. And here and there a brand new, modern house or motel was tucked between really old ones. I continued driving out of town on the shore road and almost turned around when I came to a BBQ trailer at the end of the island. It was set up on the side of the road with a couple tables next to it and further on was another similar, but competitive trailer. I then remembered reading about these trailers and how famous they were for fresh catch and ‘open box’ meals meaning you could walk up, they open the cooler up, and you pick what you wanted out of the box and they  fixed it for lunch. So I pulled over. The trailers and inside kitchens were absolutely spotless.  So I ordered crayfish fritters. I went and asked a young German couple if they minded if I sat with them and they were very gracious. We had a lovely time talking and eating. My fritters were excellent; perfectly cooked and crunchy and the crab meat was fresh and sweet.  We exchanged ideas on what to see and do because we were going in opposite directions. The young man kept saying I could go see the “wineyards” because he couldn’t pronounce the v-sound. Other than that, they spoke great English.

After lunch I took a drive out to the country to find a lavender farm and factory. It was set in the fields behind the town and wasn’t in production as it is spring, but the bushes were all growing and a few were starting to bloom. Very picturesque. The gift shop was open and they make most of the products they sell, so of course I had to buy a few little things. Then it was time to get back for my whale watching cruise. After being warned several times before we left port about rough seas, we got under way where they again told us what to do in the event of sea sickness. At that point I was ready to throw up. The boat really did rock a lot and we weren’t allowed out of our seats until we got to where the whale sighting occurs. Once there, we stood around outside and watched. And watched. They have a crew member who goes up top and is the designated spotter. In the meantime we all stood in different spots on the boat looking and freezing.  A couple dolphins were nice enough to come along and cavort for a long time beside and in front of the boat, swimming and jumping around. An albatross was in the water and a certain group of puffins that only nest in this area were flying all over. If we didn’t see a whale 80% of our money would get refunded, so after awhile we started hoping not to see one. Then, as I’m talking away to a lady from Florida I casually said ‘There it is.” as I had seen a spouting off in the distance. And I then waved frantically to the captain to show her where to move the boat. Yep, I spotted it first, again. It was a huge Sperm whale coming up to re-oxygenate for another dive. These are the largest toothed creatures on earth and the deepest divers, going down hundreds of meters and staying down up to two and a quarter hours. The Maori guide told us this one was about 15 meters long, almost equal to the size of our boat. We could only see about two thirds of it, because the tail hangs down as they sit there breathing. I took a bunch of pictures of nothing as the boat was pitching so much I would focus, snap, and the boat would roll and I would have a photo of grey water. I did manage to get a few of the whale and the guide knew exactly when it was going to dive so he had us prepare our cameras for the big tail flip in the air. I caught a decent shot of that. But once again, if you get caught up in the camera work, you miss the joy of actually being there to see this magnificent creature doing his thing and flipping his tail and disappearing into the depths. Wow! On the way back we stopped at a seal colony, but I was so cold I didn’t leave the inside of the boat, I could see just fine from my window seat. I just wanted to get back to my car and turn on the heater.

Back on land I drove with my heater going full blast to a take-out shop as I was too tired for a lengthy restaurant meal. They have all sorts of these all over NZ, big signs saying Take-Away. I don’t know if it’s relatively new or if it’s just a big deal here. But I order fish and chips because they really do use fresh fish and have a great, light batter every place I’ve tried. They wrap it up in several layers of newspaper and you have to be really careful when you un-wrap it, or it falls all over the place. First time I did it, everything spewed all over. They don’t warn you, it’s one of those things you learn the hard way.  I will eat this in my little kitchenette overlooking the bay. Yummy.

Dec. 1

Happy Birthday to my Dad! He would be 90 years old today if he were still alive. May he be in heaven with all the angels and saints and telling them to put in a good word for me with the Big Guy!

I left Kaikora today to drive to Nelson. And yes, I did have to go over more mountains, and no, there is not a main road in NZ that is not being resurfaced. My car is absolutely filthy and full of little pieces of gravel, or grit as they say. I’m not washing it. It’s a rental and it stays outside all night. It’s filled with crap in the back seat (hat, walking stick, two rain jackets, a light jacket, a heavy jacket, a fleece, back brace, knee brace, bag of sunscreen, sun block, food bag, medicine bag, extra shoes, suitcase, etc) and looks like an itinerant lives in it, and I have managed to fill the whole four door Toyota Corolla sedan, front, back and trunk myself. I have no idea how I am going to get this stuff home. No idea!

I think I finally figured out a road sign that has been puzzling me since I got here. It’s a round blue sign with a red X in the middle. I see it on mountain roads, in the city, back roads, everywhere. It means No Parking. That should be obvious, but on a curvy mountain road, who would think of parking? They also have this warning sign that is a big exclamation mark. That’s it, just a big, rounded exclamation mark like you would see on a cartoon. It means ‘look out’ or ‘pay attention’ or something like that. I keep thinking Roger Rabbit is going to pop out. Another sign reads ’Ford Ahead’ and I’m thinking, what kind, Taurus, Explorer? But it means the road may be flooded and you may have to ford the road. Oh.  The best was when I was driving a coast road and there was a big yellow sign with a picture of a seal on it and below that it said ‘Next 4 kilometers’. And I’m thinking, do I look at the seals in the water or are they actually coming on the road? Do they really climb on to the road and get hit, like our deer? I was petrified I would kill a seal. I’m sure they are a protected species. And they were right off the road in a huge colony for several kilometers, so I still have no idea if the warning was for wandering seals or for me to stop and look at them. So I stopped.  And they were mating and fighting. Very interesting, and none were in the road.

I did start talking to myself the last few days of driving. First I started singing. Amazingly enough, even with with all the high speed, ridiculously dangerous mountain driving I still get drowsy. So I tried the radio and got nothing. Then I brought cheap CD’s which are really bad. I sing along to Dean Martin and am learning the words to really old songs I’ve never heard before. But that still gets me tired, so then I tried singing songs I don’t remember the words to; which is pretty much all the songs I know. Two things happen then, if I don’t try very hard my subconscious brings the words back. Pretty cool. If that doesn’t work, I make them up. Both of these methods help to keep me awake. But the best was when I started talking to myself with a NZ accent. I love copying accents and NZ’s is very distinct. I didn’t even realize I was talking out loud until I shouted some silly word they use at another car. And then off I went on a rant with a NZ accent.  That was fun, so now I do it whenever I can. And I practice other accents too. But I still don’t understand most of what they say even after being here two and a half weeks. In the pool at the hot springs two little boys got in the same pool I was in and were having a conversation. I couldn’t pick out one word they were saying. They may as well have been speaking Russian. I was really trying and I honestly never caught one English word. It’s embarrassing still having to ask people to repeat what they’ve said, several times. Speaking of embarrassing, they sell these meat pies in all the stores and bakeries here as a kind of take-away food. Well, I’ve now tried several kinds in different area and they are all awful. That’s embarrassing as a nation. The crust is ok, but the filling is like bad pot roast. And they are messy. But I guess every country has to have something embarrassing, we have chitlins.

On my drive from Kaikoura I passed through the Marborough region which is famous for NZ wine growing and making. This is the one time I have to say it was not fun being alone. The drinking and driving laws are strict here and I had no designated driver. And besides, tasting wine alone is no fun. Part of the romance of tasting wine is discussing it with the person you are with. So I soaked in the scenery and vines and promised to come back someday.

I made it Nelson by early afternoon. Nelson is on the top of the South Island and has a population of about 43,000. It has beautiful beaches and more sunshine hours than anywhere else in the country. It is the gateway to Abel Tasman, Nelson Lakes and Kahurangi National Parks. From here I can go all the way to Farewell Spit which is the longest (35 kilometers) natural sandbar in the world, and the end of South Island. But first I had to check out my penthouse.

After driving along the coast road into Nelson I recognize my apartment complex from internet photos. I find Neville, the manager, and he takes me to the fourth floor. I have a large, 3 bedroom apartment with a deluxe kitchen much nicer than my one at home, two plasma TVs, and a glassed wrap around deck the size of the apartment itself. I have about 270 degree views of the Bay, mountains and hills. There are no outside walls in the apartment, just massive window and doors all of which can be opened onto the deck to catch the sea breezes. Just gorgeous. I settle in then walk across the street to the grocery store, liquor store for champagne and drug store for nail polish and cold pack for my back – all the essentials. Then I sit outside on the deck drinking champagne, eating goat cheese and cheese muffins with apples, and then I take a special bath for my back and drift off to bed.