NZ’s ‘surreal’ whale graveyard
Coming across the remains of whales stranded on Stewart Island’s Mason Bay was a ‘‘sad yet beautiful’’ and ultimately humbling experience for Aaron Cluka.
Cluka, who is originally from the United States but now lives in Auckland, and his father-in-law walked across the island to Mason Bay in search of the elusive tokoeka (Stewart Island brown kiwi).
They had read about the mass stranding of the 175 pilot whales on the beach last November and seen signs for the ra¯hui placed over the area but weren’t prepared for the open graves they would encounter about two hours into their walk.
‘‘It was sunny and quite nice but also quite empty. Then suddenly we came across a mass of birds hanging around,’’ Cluka says.
Looking toward the sand dunes, they noticed the remains of the whales ‘‘in various stages of deep decomposition’’.
‘‘It was a surreal experience. The sheer number of them made you feel the enormity of the event.’’
Half the whales had died by the time they were found and Department of Conservation Rakiura operations manager Ren Leppens said the condition of the others and remoteness of the location left conservationists with no choice but to euthanise them.
‘‘The likelihood of being able to successfully refloat the remaining whales was extremely low,’’ he said at the time. ‘‘However, it’s always a heart-breaking decision to make.’’