…that would be me! Although I’m not allowed to buy any more until next week (they are biscuits by the way). Last few days have been pretty cool. There have been lots of days up on #TheHill (we have made this into a Twitter trend) looking at sperm whales, maily Tiaki the resident male. Or Teriaki the drag queen whale as Danny likes to call him…
On The Hill.
There was a party a few days ago, someone in town was leaving (no idea who). Was a good party, probably had a bit too much vodka, as I got up in the morning and fell over, then made a sandwich, which I now can’t remember making (but I had a packed lunch, so must have). Then last night we went to a talk at the local movie theatre about the history of whaling. It was quite sad, but a really good talk. Today was a pretty long day doing land-based obs, we only really saw one whale, and the sea swell was about 2 metres, making it really difficult to spot and keep track of the whales. So we only ended up with just over one tape of data. Hopefully we’ll have better luck on Thursday! Driving home was interesting though, as there were a lot of bulls in the road. It was a bit like going on safari, but with just bulls!
Tiaki fluking.
I’ve been on two whale watching boat trips now. the first time was amazing, sunny weather, and we saw Tiaki the whale twice, then went to Barney’s rock (so-called because a whaler called Barney used to stand on top of it and direct his whaling boats towards the whales he saw) to see baby fur seals. Then we encountered a pod of a few hundred dusky dolphins, so all in all a great trip.
Duskies.
Yesterday’s outing wasn’t as good, there was quite a lot of swell so I ended up feeling a little sea sick. We were chasing Tiaki around for a while so only saw him on the surface once. Saw a lot of dolphins again though, which always makes me happy!
Volunteers, oh yes!
We get a day off tomorrow, as Ophelie is off to Christchurch. Will probably spend the day chilling out, hopefully talk to Ed on Skype, oh and go to the gym! Might also end up in the garden drinking Pimm’s in the afternoon if its a sunny day! Missing everyone at home, love you all! : ) xxx
