Buster the star dolphin-spotter
There’s a treasure trove of Kiwi wildlife, from Hector’s dolphins to little blue penguins, on Banks Peninsula, writes Tina Law.
Akaroa, a quaint village nestled on the South Island’s Banks Peninsula, is home to some of New Zealand’s rarest wildlife. Seeing the nationally vulnerable Hector’s dolphin, little blue penguins and fur seals in their natural habitat is something special.
There are numerous ways to get on to Akaroa Harbour, and today we head out on Akaroa Dolphins’ rather swanky boat.
The company boasts a 98 per cent chance of seeing Hector’s dolphins, so expectations are high.
I nab a prime spot at the bow of the boat because if those dolphins are out there I don’t want to miss my chance to see them.
We are offered a glass of wine, beer or soft drink, and a warm jacket.
The sun is shining and the sea is calm, so I take the glass of wine and naively decline the jacket.
We are joined on the boat by Buster, a 5-year-old miniature schnauzer, who is arguably one of the star attractions in his own right.
When Buster gets excited, we should too because it is a sign the dolphins are near.
On an odd occasion Buster has got too excited and ended up overboard, so he now has his trusty life jacket on just in case.
Our captain for the two-hour cruise is Bainzy, and he fills us in on Akaroa history and points out significant sites, including nuku Marae, where the
Treaty of Waitangi was signed.
A short while later we have our first sighting. The dolphins are a couple of hundred metres away, and we quickly lose sight of them as they dive down to feed.
They surface a short time later and, this time, they are much closer to the boat, but they are way too quick for me to photograph them.
We head closer to the cliffs and enter Cathedral Cave, which was apparently created by a massive explosion of trapped gas.
Akaroa Harbour is a drowned volcanic crater, and the rock formations along the coast are impressive.
We get quite close to the cliffs and can make out an abundance of seabirds nesting on tiny ledges.
The water is calm, so Bainzy puts us on course to head out of the harbour. It’s uncharted territory for me.
We see more dolphins and, to everyone’s delight, a couple swim alongside the boat. We even see some little blue penguins feeding.
Bainzy steers into another bay where we see fur seals sunning themselves on the rocks. Another dives into the ocean and puts on a show for us.
The swell of the ocean is much higher outside the harbour, and it is cold. I soon get a tap on the shoulder from a crew member asking if I would like a jacket. This time I take her up on the offer.
We are offered a tasty homemade biscuit for the trip back to the wharf, which really cements the
attention to detail this family-owned company has to its business.
We say our goodbyes, then head off on our next wildlife adventure – Po¯hatu Penguins.
Our guide Ben is waiting and ready to load us into his 4WD penguin van. He drives us up a steep, narrow and windy road behind Akaroa, where we get a stunning view of the harbour and see the volcanic rim in all its glory.
The view across the other side is much less impressive, but only because it is completely covered by a thick layer of sea fog.
We start the descent through the fog down into Po¯hatu Bay, also known as Flea Bay, which is home to the largest little penguin colony on mainland New Zealand. There are 1200 breeding pairs of the little, or white-flippered, penguin. The area is owned by Francis and Shireen Helps, who have worked for 30 years to protect the penguins.
When they first moved to the bay, predators were a big problem and the colonies¯O around the peninsula had taken a big hit, while others had disappeared altogether.
The Helps have introduced trapping, monitoring and rehabilitation programmes in the bay, and the Po¯hatu colony is continuing to grow. Proceeds from the tours fund the conservation work.
We get a sense of just how devastating pests can be when another Po¯hatu guide, Kevin, spots a cat coming out of the forest 100 metres away.
To us the cat looks like a harmless shaggy domestic puss, but seeing Kevin’s horror we realise just how devastating cats can be to a penguin colony.
Ben then takes us to one of the little wooden boxes that are dotted everywhere around the bay, even in the Helps’ garden.
He is pretty sure there is a penguin inside, and we silently crowd in as he slowly lifts the lid. Sure enough there is one. We even see a tiny bit of fluff under it, which Ben says is definitely a chick, maybe even two.
As the name suggests, these penguins are little. They have an average length of about 33cm, and only weigh about one kilogram.
It’s not hard to see why they are so vulnerable to our introduced predators, but it is easy to see why the team at Po¯hatu Penguins are so passionate about their survival.