At Kaikoura the whales seen are usually Sperm whales at the time of year we were there, September. On arrival we were excited to hear that a mother and calf Southern right whale were inshore. We saw them from the beach and the following morning I hired a 'plane to get aerial views - just stunning. However they did not stay on the surface for too long and I asked the pilot to move away after 5 minutes in case our presence was disturbing them.