(written partly on February 17th and 18th from notes taken previously).
It was a tough day today. ๐
Having heard last night that the whales had restranded yet again, after we had been so hopeful because all evidence seemed to point to their having actually escaped the death zone, was… hard.
But we were up early this morning to see where things stood and what might need to happen.
Troublingly, things were different this morning than other rescue days: There weren’t people running around preparing to get all the volunteers over to the whales to get started on the standard rescue efforts of keeping them wet and covered (if possible) and properly positioned, etc.
No, we again got up early, but the message this time was to sit tight.
The same young man who had the super duper expensive binoculars last night was out on the beach this morning, and with his binoculars, we could see crazy far down the spit to where the DOC vehicles and the whales were.
The message that we got was that of the 13 whales that were alive last night, four of them had died, so there were only nine left.
One of the juveniles, though still alive, had its eyes pecked out (by seagulls I think it was) and was euthanized. ๐
I hadn’t heard the gunshot, but I guess they’ve got a really big gun to put the whales out of their misery quickly.
As we waited for news through the morning, a group of us sat around eating breakfast and talking.
Nick and I also spent a good while working on his car, trying to identify and resolve fairly significant water leaks that he was having to deal with in his vehicle each time it rained.
His back hatch was leaking so much that it was soaking his bed by where his head was. ๐ถ
So we started doing some testing, removing some trim panels to get a better view of everything (which took a little doing in and of itself, as, not knowing how it was all put together, it’s always a little nerve-wracking removing trim panels because everything’s made of plastic that can so easily break)
Once I had everything apart, Nick started pouring water over the outside of his hatch while I sat inside looking to see where it came out of.
Gratefully, we were eventually able to determine the leaking spots, and another fellow volunteer had a tube of caulk left over from some of her construction efforts in her van, and she gave it to Nick to use.
We were able to get the majority of the leak solved without the caulk, but we ended up using it in order to try to completely resolve the leak.
๐ค
I also noticed that his rear wiper was improperly installed, so we got that corrected as well.
While we were working on his car, we continued to wait for updates with the whales. We were supposed to have a briefing at 10:00 a.m., but 10:00 came and went with no news.
Eventually, one of the older, long-time volunteers, a lady maybe in her ’60s? (with some pretty sweet dreads) came over and gave us word that the remaining whales that had survived the night were in bad enough condition that the experts in Auckland (who had reviewed the morning’s footage of the whales) had determined that it would cause the whales unnecessary suffering to try yet another day of rescue, as they were beyond saving at this point, and so the decision was made to euthanize the rest.
๐
That was a blow. ๐ฅบ
Since I hadn’t been a part of the first day of rescue, when the majority of the original 55 stranded whales were successfully refloated and didn’t restrand, that meant that none of the whales that I had spent the last three days trying to rescue survived.
None.
๐
That was hard. If even one had survived…
[sigh]
๐
A group of us wandered over to the entrance to the beach from the car park and sat down on a large drift log at the vegetation line to sort of… say goodbye.
And I stared out at the ocean a bit, tears welling up.
๐ฅบ
Tough morning.
After the volunteers sort of disbanded, Nick and I decided to travel together for a little bit, starting by trying to find a way to the top of a nearby hill in order to have a good view of farewell spit.
At first, we thought we might be able to just go across the field to the north of us and then over, but after starting to walk that direction, we chatted with a woman who was coming back to the car park and asked if there was a way up the hill from where she had come, and she said that the path went a different direction.
So we then decided to walk up the road, looking at Google Maps which showed a walking path leading directly from the main road up to the hill we wanted to go to the top of.
But when we walked up the road to where the path was supposed to be, there was no path, just a steep, heavily vegetated downward slope before going right back up.
Twice thwarted. ๐
Nick and I ended up walking over to the main car park, and I asked a DOC worker if we were allowed to go to the top of the nearby hill (which I pointed to) and if so, how.
The worker was really nice, and he said yes, it was possible to go to the hill, but that the track was closed for the time being. He then said there was a separate track going up a different hill that was even closer that we could go to, and he gave us directions to walk up the road just a short ways and then to look to our left, and there would be a little gate that we could go through.
We thanked him and started walking up the hill and did indeed quickly find the little path and the gate. It was crazy overgrown because it was an area that was no longer maintained by the DOC, but it at least served our purpose of wanting to get to higher ground to have a sort of semi-aerial view of Farewell Spit.
We hiked and talked and joked and laughed and had a great time, which was nice after having such a rough morning.
We snapped pictures of the Spit and surrounding areas, took video, and then decided to head south together toward Tฤkaka, first destination Te Waikoropupu Springs (I for my third time ๐, but he for just his first).
On the way, I pointed out the little overgrown side road where I’d spent a couple nights, just in case.
It was an absolutely beautiful day to be visiting the springs. Sunny, crystal clear water, and we happen to be there at the same time as a DOC worker (I think he was a doc worker?) who was there taking water samples, collecting temperature and composition data.
I asked him a bunch of questions about the spring, including depth and temperature and all sorts of stuff. I think he said that the spring was something like six or eight meters deep at the deepest?
It’s amazing how hard it can be to tell depth through water that’s crystal clear.
Good stuff.
Those springs are both stunningly beautiful and super impressive.
After leaving the springs, we headed over to the Fresh Choice market in “downtown” (it’s a really small town) Tฤkaka, buying, among other things, a tub of ice cream that we shared, sitting behind the grocery store building.
It’s weird hanging out with Nick. He’s a blast to run around with, and at the same time, I’m old enough to be his dad.
In fact, had my life gone the way I sort of assumed it was going to go after my mission, I probably would have had multiple kids around his age.
It’s a little painful to think about, the ongoing mourning of the broken dreams.
After hanging out at the grocery store and finishing up our ice cream, we headed over to Paines Ford (of course you knew I would take him there๐).
Funny enough, as we were standing next to my van, I noticed that Melanie, the woman I had chatted with on the way in from our massive whale saving efforts last night, was walking by!
She was going to go for a swim, I believe, but we got to talking and ended up talking for probably 30 or 45 minutes, so she ended up not going for her swim but heading straight for a sort of dance party shindig (as best I could gather, it was sort of a free-flowing music and, move to the music kind of however you want to kind of thing?).
Not surprising at all, as though she was probably somewhere near my age, she was a total free spirit, the kind of person that just gives off the vibe that she’s pretty much never stressed. ๐
Definitely not like me. ๐
She bid us farewell, and she needed to leave to go to her little event, and Nick and I headed over to the jumping/rope swinging cliffs.
Remember how I talked before about not being so keen on that second rope swing, the one that was at the end of the cliff that was more like a rope swing for kids? I wasn’t keen on it because if for whatever reason, the unlikely happened, and there was a problem with the swing itself, you could get injured because the water was super shallow until the very last portion of the swing where it got deep.
Well, that swing didn’t have issues, but the big swing that people do tricks and what not off of had a different handle when we got there because while someone was swinging on it, the handle, that was welded together, broke apart. ๐
Fortunately, that part of the river is deep enough that you’re not going to get hurt if something happens with the swing.
But again, the same could not be said for that other swing.
Calculated risks.
One of the guys at the cliff jumping area today was Dean, whom I’ve seen nearly there every day that I’ve been there. ๐
He’s the guy in the picture from my other post who’s sitting on my favorite little perch point on the overhang.
I showed Nick around a little bit, and I did some more cliff jumping and rock climbing and what not, and we chatted with other people that were there. Unfortunately, Nick has an issue with his ear that makes it a health risk for him to go underwater, so he wasn’t able to join me in the cliff jumping part of the activities.
Still, I think he enjoyed himself. ๐ค
We headed from there over to the Uruwhenua freedom camping spot that’s about a 10-minute drive south of Paines Ford (where I stayed one night last week).
Shortly after we arrived, there was a girl who tried to park her van next to Nick’s car, but the gravel was so deep that she got stuck, so I pushed her out of the gravel and then offered her my spot as the person I was parked next to (at least on the side of my van that wasn’t Nick’s car) was a friend of hers.
So after pushing her out of the deep gravel, I actually went and just parked in the same place where I had just pushed her out, figuring that I would manage to get myself out without too much issue in the morning. ๐ค
Nick and I set up our little lawn chairs and ate dinner and chatted until well after the sun went down.
The freedom camping place was absolutely packed, and there was a good chunk of people who I think were all traveling together or who knew each other pretty well? There was a group of them right in the center of camp making music and twirling around their little fire-twirling toys.
Fun stuff. A little late to be as loud as they were, but whatever. It was entertaining. ๐
I’m probably forgetting something, but it’s been a long, very eventful last several days.
Lift the world.
Bring it on.
~ stephen
Lift the World 