This month we did go to Kaikōura for a long weekend, and I also went to Auckland for the Auckland Open (but didn’t take many pictures). There was an enormous set of photos from a Kaikōura whale-watching tour (almost 900 photos) and I also processed a large number of Great Barrier Reef photos (747), in addition to another two sets of Tour du Mont Blanc photos.

The backlog is now up to mid-August 2024, which again is just under 2 years from today, but there is a Japan trip from September 2024 which may have a lot of photos too. One set at a time. Net addition from July 2026 is not too bad, with one more Kaikōura day and the Auckland trip still to be processed.

We have underwater photos from snorkelling at the Great Barrier Reef (rented a camera), birds from Birdworld Kuranda, and lots of pictures from an epic day with Whale Watch Kaikōura. Also got all of the Christchurch May 2026 pictures and one more TMB day.

Picture logs available, and, as always, pictures are clickable to go to the full gallery.

Sets of pictures processed: July=14, June=18, May=22
Total pictures selected: July=698, June=574, May=846
Total pictures in selection pool: July=3333 (!), June=1868, May=2330
Accept rate: 21% (min 10%, max 62%)
Pictures posted on this page: 187 (26% of selected).

There were a lot of non-selected Whale Watch photos (the 10% accept rate was from that day).

Great Barrier Reef & Kurunda: Humpnose big eye bream and friends; Barron Falls; Tour du Mont Blanc: rocky peak & glacier; cow and calf; peek-a-moo; marbled white; Madawaska Ice Fest: wow!; Travis Wetland: pied stilt; Blenheim, Wairau Lagoons & Kaikōura: scraping the windshield; heron in flight; MP; cape petrel; sperm whale and cape petrel; albatross and seal eating squid; Scratchy the humpback's scars; Wellington Open VM -66 podium.

General birds:

TMB: Northern wheatear; flying choughs; Wellington: little black shags; Wairau Lagoons: white-faced heron; flying swans; black swans on the path; two Eurasian skylarks; pīwakawaka/fantail; yellowhammer; red-billed gull; Wellington: kākā on campus.

Cattana Wetlands & Kuranda:

Australasian darter; scarlet macaw; moluccan eclectus; red-tailed black cockatoo; cassowary.

Mostly bugs, one mammal. Mostly TMB.

Alpine marmot; common flesh fly; six-spot burnet; spotted fritillary; dark green fritillary; cicindela galica; Wellington: torpedo bug.

Domestic mammals:

TMB: Goats and sheep; cow; dog; Christchurch: five freshly shorn sheep; cat; Wellington: cat.

Kaikōura (July 2026)

Quick trip to Kaikōura in July, as it turns out just after the floods. Fortunately the floods spared town this time, though the mountain biking trails were taken out. Stopped by Wairau Lagoons just outside of Blenheim on the way there, and Lake Elterwater on the way back (not processed this month).

MP walking down the path; wet wetlands at Wairau Lagoons; Blenheim station platform (also Fidelio restaurant); flooded platform at Lake Elterwater (we'd be back); fishing boat at Kaikōura; golden hour outside King Tide; sunset at New World parking lot.

The real action was on the Whale Watch Kaikōura trip. Actually a jetboat in catarmaran shape. Got a winter discount; the boat wasn’t empty but it was far from at capacity. Saw a sperm whale (with cape petrel flying above), a dozen humpbacks, a lot of whale tails, albatrosses and a Northern Giant Petrel.

Kaikōura train station with Whale Watch Kaikōura office; Kaikōura coast; sperm whale with rainbow blow; sperm whale tail; head-on albatross; seal and albatross; mealtime for seal; two albatrosses; albatross takeoff; humpback tail; humpback; three birds; Scratchy's tail; Northern giant petrel; under the tail; Salvin's Mollymawk and Kaikōura cliffs; sunbeams.

Christchurch (May 2026)

The Canterbury Open seems to always be on the same weekend as the Canadian nationals. No nationals for me this year, so I went to Christchurch for the weekend, with an extra day on either side. Went to the climbing gym twice as well as for walks at the Travis Wetland and on the Rāpaki Track.