Dolphins, whales and wild landscapes: why New Zealand is the trip of a lifetime
From Milford Sound to Kaikōura, discover extraordinary wildlife and some of New Zealand’s most spectacular landscapes.
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From Milford Sound to Kaikōura, discover extraordinary wildlife and some of New Zealand’s most spectacular landscapes.
With its glacial inlets, cloud-clad peaks and plentiful marine life, New Zealand holds ample possibilities for adventure.
I ventured across its rugged coastline and experienced it all - from cold water swims and winding road trips to kayaking alongside penguins and witnessing the Milky Way galaxy.
The trip was a refreshing escape, and one that left me reflecting on the power of being immersed in the wild.
These are my personal experiences of the activities I think everyone should add to their itinerary when visiting New Zealand.
The dolphins surprised us at dawn. They were playing in the deep, glacial waters of Milford Sound, as our breath made clouds in the chill of morning. “There! Look!” Word spread fast along the rails of the Milford Mariner, a modern cruiser fitted out in a brass and polished wood retro style that made it look like it could have carried Hercule Poirot up the Nile.
We were actually in a remote fjord on the east coast of the South Island of New Zealand, a place so spectacular it was once described by Rudyard Kipling as the Eighth Wonder of the World.
“They seem pretty sociable,” said Adam, the onboard wildlife ranger, as the dusky dolphins broke their circle and approached us. The leader seemed to be Snowflake, identified by the flashes of white on her back, who had been spotted here before.
“If we’re lucky, when we get going they will come with us,” said Adam. And they did, these sleek creatures sliding through the silky black water at great pace, sometimes leaping over the bow wave, sometimes disappearing, only to return to cheers and laughter.
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This was the kind of magic we had come for, driving for hours through increasingly remote countryside to reach the sound. At first the farmland south of Queenstown had felt like Scotland on steroids, which was nice but not thrilling. Then the low clouds ahead of us parted to reveal massive mountains, with snow on their peaks and slopes covered in deep, marbled green rainforests, either side of a valley glowing gold in the sun.
“That’s it!” I yelled at a place called Walker’s Creek. “Stop the car!”
My companion had no idea what was going on, but this was the landscape of my imagination. Like many from the other side of the world, I had long fantasised about New Zealand as a place of escape, a gorgeous, spacious wilderness in which you might see and feel what it was like when humans were more in harmony with nature, or before we were even here at all.
Here it was, laid out in front of us. This was also the backdrop to the Lord of the Rings movies, but the real colours were more intense than anything I had seen on screen and the scale so vast we had to stop to breathe it all in.
It was a good job we did stop too, because our breath was stolen soon afterwards by a plunge into the Homer Tunnel, an infamously scary passage cut through the granite with pickaxes a century ago.
The descent was so extraordinarily steep it felt like going into Hell, until, with a blinding burst of light we emerged into the Cleddau Valley, part of the Fiordland National Park, as bright and epic as heaven.
I was glad not to be driving, so I could take it all in, and thought of the travellers fortunate enough to do this journey on a serene, air-conditioned coach (part of Saga’s Great New Zealand Discovery Tour).
We were making our own way, but our spirits were good that evening as the crew of the travel company Real NZ’s boat, the Mariner, showed us to a neat twin cabin.
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The sunset cruise of Milford Sound included a chance to kayak around an unspoilt cove, where a little penguin was swimming. The brave among us also went for a dip, until the cold came up like a beast from the deep.
Back on board, a welcome roast buffet was followed by a talk from the affable Adam, reminding us that the Sound was nine miles long and formed by glaciers millions of years ago.
Friendships were forged as we drank whisky under a cloudless sky, some of us lying on our backs to look up at the Milky Way. That was a first for me and another profound and almost overwhelming sight.
As morning broke, the Mariner made its way out to the edge of the Tasman Sea, where Captain Dayle – a former fisherman – delighted in telling us that the great explorer James Cook apparently failed to spot the entrance to the bay. Twice. You could see why. The sun was rising behind what looked like a solid wall of mountains. Then, like doors opening in a fairy tale, the perspective changed and we were able sail back into the vast, eery fjord, with its high, dark sides slashed by bright, white waterfalls so close they misted our eyes.
That was when the dolphins showed up. Even the crew came out to enjoy them. “They’re giving us a great send off,” said Adam as the Mariner returned slowly to port.
For us, this was the beginning of a road trip across the South Island that would end 600 miles north in a close encounter with an even greater, rarer creature of the deep.
To get there we drove back through Queenstown, another of Saga’s stops, which styles itself as an adventure capital. You can skydive, paraglide, ride a fast jet boat across Lake Wakatipu or sit quietly in a park watching other people risk their bones.
Here we began what Tolkien fans might have called a sub-quest, queuing at a renowned local bakery called Ferg’s to eat a steak and cheese pie, which was delicious. Never mind what the doctor might say, pies with shortcrust pastry and a flaky top are among the treasures of Kiwi cuisine.
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For spiritual sustenance, we took in evensong at the Cardboard Cathedral in Christchurch. This airy place of worship was built from 98 cardboard tubes after an earthquake damaged the existing cathedral in 2011. It feels like a giant tent, the surrounding streets humming as the choir sings. I found the place a moving testament to the city’s ability to improvise and rebuild after a natural disaster that cost 185 lives.
All the way through our journey, the signs we saw warning what to do in the event of an earthquake were reminders that life is fragile and precious. They know that well in Kaikōura, a small coastal town a couple of hours north of Christchurch.
The economy was struggling in the Eighties, when the Maori elders of the Ngāti Kurī tribe looked to an ancient ancestor for inspiration. Paikea is said to have escaped an attempt on his life in Hawaii by riding across the Pacific on the back of a whale, many centuries ago.
The Ngāti Kurī mortgaged homes to buy a small tour boat and formed a collective called Whale Watch Kaikoura so Paikea’s descendants could “again ride on the back of the whale to a new life and prosperity”.
Giant Sperm Whales come close here because of an undersea canyon that provides the nutrients they need. These days, Whale Watch Kaikōura sends state-of-the-art vessels to meet them, taking 100,000 people a year.
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“This is Manu,” said our guide as we sidled up close to a sperm whale. “His name comes from the shape of his tail, which looks like the outstretched wings of a bird.”
There was more to come. “Well! This is a treat!” The guide was surprised and happy to see a humpback whale slapping the water with its own massive tail, attracting yet more playful dolphins. There was no name, the whale having migrated all the way from the Pacific islands, a little early. Again, the crew joined us in gasps and cheers.
For members of Whale Watch Kaikōura, the legendary characters of Paikea and the whale he rode “represent the spiritual bond between the human world and the natural world”.
I thought back to being a little boy in London, mesmerised by pictures of whales in a library book. It felt impossible then to even think of seeing one up close, but now the humpback whale swam right across the bow of the boat with his big white belly towards us and a flipper out wide. Then his dive back towards the deep began.
The slow, exquisite wave of that whale’s tail spoke to something primal I could not explain. My heart raced. There were tears in my eyes. The little boy in me laughed. Once again, in the Land of the Long Cloud, my imagination had been made real.
Saga’s Great New Zealand Discover tour visits Queenstown, Wanaka, Kaikōura and Christchurch.
A whale-watching trip (weather dependent) in Kaikōura, and a trip on the Milford Mariner to Milford Sound or on the Fiordland Navigator to Doubtful Sound, are both included on the itinerary.
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