Our next mission was to film the whale carcasses left on the beach, and what a mission that was. We weren't sure of the exact location, but figured whales can't be that hard to find. Well they are. Granted, other, much smaller creatures were grabbing our attention.
We start filming cut aways the weather is similar to the day of the stranding as is the tide. We have been informed that the whale carcasses will not be buried as this process just allows for oil slumps to form under the sand. They are left in the open for mother nature to clean up, apparently in the sand dunes.
We came up to an entrance into the sand dunes, and decided to try our luck searching in there. We ended with, walking up and sliding down, searching for the whales. It was late in the day, and still very hot. The sand was scorching as well. Did I mention we left our shoes in the car? I felt like a circus performer walking on fire. I thought I saw the whales so I ran off, away from Vanessa. I looked all around where they should have been, but could not find them. I thought great, I'm seeing mirages, and now I got myself lost. But I heard Vanessa, we reunited, and continued on.
Hours of walking later and still no sign of whale carcasses sounds hard to believe, I know. We hit the slopes of the white sand dunes so picturesque but SO hot on my bare feet! I struggled with this cooking feeling to my soles.
We walked as far as allowed. There was nothing else to do but turn around and think about how we could have missed the whales.
Eventually we were tired and headed back only to catch sight of a black moving cloud of flies and strong rotting smell.
As we were walking back, we were suddenly hit with the most fetid smell. We slowly turned our heads toward a blanket of flies, and we knew the whales must be hidden behind the trees. How we missed this spot before,
who knows.
How could we have missed that before? Easily we were a few metres further down the beach.
It took a very long minute to coax ourselves to walk threw the flies and film what we needed. I won't go into details, but we got the shots fast, running out of there just as fast. It is an interesting thing to see. It is only a part of nature. It is an example of what happens when whales cannot be saved.
Enough said the whales were semi exploding, juices gurgling & flies a hovering. The flies were amazing moving like a Mexican wave up and down the beach. The stench was super ripe and rancid but we got our shots and ran! Whoever said wildlife filmmaking was glamorous! We gagged our way back home. Grateful that it was only 7 that had died.
The footage that we shot will of course be handled tastefully, but exactly what that means is still to be deciphered.
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Tuesday was our day off we decided we had earned it. Beach walks and seeing the sights of Takaka. We head in for a screening of silent antics in the evening, Buster and Charlie kept us entertained, Sara was loving it!
I love Charlie Chaplin. That statement may seem like it has nothing to do with our film. Whale strandings isn't exactly slap stick comedy. But Charlie was a man who could do it all. He would get himself in a working mindset: writing, directing, and acting. He's an idle of mine so when we saw a flyer for a showing of silent films on the green, we had to go. Finally a relaxing night.
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Wednesday:
Wednesday we found information and internet at the Takaka library. Strangely enough we bumped into Charlie, a photo opp for Sara. Time to do some research and relaxing on the beach. The weather turned and we retired for the evening.
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