Day 4, Activity 1 Whale Rider

By the end of Day #3, you have seen a lot of the north island of New Zealand.  Hopefully you have enjoyed it and you’re excited for the next phase of your journey – the ferry trip across the Cook Strait from the bottom of the north island to the top of the south island. You will spend the next two days exploring the south island before you head back up to Auckland, via Wellington (the capital city of New Zealand).

When you arrive in the south island, Curious Kiwi rents a shuttle van and drives your group from Picton (the town where the ferry dropped you off) to a beautiful beach on the opposite side of the island. The beach area is called Golden Bay and, at one end of the bay, is a stunning area called Farewell Spit.

Farewell Spit has been in the news recently as a number of whales accidentally swam into the spit and became stuck on the beach. They were unable to swim back to the ocean because the water was too shallow. Many local people tried to save the ‘beached’ whales. Please follow this Farewell Spit link to learn more about what happened. On your blog, describe what the local people did to try and save the beached whales.

Photo: RNZ / Michael Crop

What did the locals do to save the beached whales

• The locals tried to keep the whales wet
• Cover them if they could with wet cloths/materials
• Keep the whale’s blowholes clear
• Freedom campers offered their towels, t-shirts and sarongs to drape over the whales.
• People used bins, water bottles, cooking pots, mixing bowls, almost anything they could find to fill with water to keep the whales wet.
• Locals/volunteers work until nightfall.

For a lot of the locals and those that volunteered, I imagine it would have been an emotional experience.  I would have liked to have been there to help as well.