Activity 1: 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.
Locals vs Nature
Farewell Spit has become known as a whale grave.
The pictures tell us that not all the whales make it. Some had been there awhile rotting away, looking at them lying there reminds me of vampires when their skin's peeling and turning black from the sunlight or bodies of zombies lying on the beach.
The locals had been fight fiercely like hyenas trying to protected their babies, the same way they were trying to save the whales stranded and beached, since February 10th.
The locals and volunteers were running around like honey bees working together to make sure every whale got the same treatment, using buckets, towels, pots, pans and bowls with cool re hydrogenating water to try and keep them alive. Other locals wishing they had super strength of elephants to help turn the whales over in the water.
Locals and volunteers keeping them wet and covered making sure their blowholes were clear and keeping away from their tails.
They all worked together until dust with the last rays of sun in the sky hoping when the high tide came in that all the whales would would call each other back out to the sea where they belong.
