The silent cry of 300 whales

I was still based in Nelson, staying in the Paradiso backpackers. The place was indeed a paradise and I've been offered to start working for accommodation next Wednesday. It was quit a though decision... Either I work here for a month and try to find a decent job, or I just keep moving and exploring. Eventually I thought: "this is not a bad place to get stuck for a while." and took the job. That meant I could still go away for a couple of days and explore the region around! That morning I woke up and went to the kitchen with my still very sleepy head. This girl sitting next to me kept going on about whales, I had no clue. I was supposed to pack my bags and go to Takaka (which was apparently a little hippie town). I asked what was going on and she explained. In Belgium we have that expression when you say : I am off my milk. I know it sounds horrible, but that's what I was. It was a 4 hour drive but both of us didn't have a car, so we couldn't do a lot. So I just went on with my original plan. Until I met these two German travelling girls. They said they were heading that way, so that was my chance. It was a long drive, and oh god I got car sick. But arriving at the scene, I knew it was worth it. More than 200 volunteers already, all caring about the stranded whales that were dying. At that moment it was 2 in the afternoon and they closed the beach, so we could only help from up a distance. The situation was that: a lot of whales were stranded since yesterday and dying. They saved a lot of the other wales, who were now a little further in the water. Only the problem was that the rescued ones were waiting for the stranded so eventually none of them were safe. The DOC eventually decided to shoot the dying whales so that the rest would move on. It was a sad scene. You could hear them shooting.

It was a sad scene, but everybody did what they could. A lot of the volunteers stayed overnight and helped as much as they could. But I needed to go back because I had booked a room in a hostel and needed to be there in time. It was still a 2 hour drive and it was getting pretty late. I was glad I could help out, and knew that there were lots of people almost giving their life for those little whales. That scene definitely restored my faith in humanity!