Kaikoura tourism goes high-tech

By CHRIS BARTON

They call it the jaw dropper. Like the parting of the Red Sea the Pacific Ocean drains, cascading sheer cliffs towards a plughole at the bottom of the Kaikoura canyon. Slowly the gigantic trench fills, but now the view is underwater, rising through layers of sea life - creatures of bioluminescence, hoki, hapuka, great whites, arrow squid, blooms of krill, and, of course, whales.

No, it's not a computer game, but it may be coming soon. The animation is part of a $1 million investment by Whale Watch to enhance the viewing of the real thing off the coast of the South Island.

For executive chairman Wally Stone, the scene setter - shown to visitors on the Whale Watch boats as they head out to the watching grounds - is to show visitors the uniqueness of the place. Yes, jaws do drop.

"The challenge is how you take people into the world of the whales, how do give them a sense of how big the canyons are, how deep the ocean is?"

The answer is to show pictures of the Sky Tower, or other landmarks from around the world, such as the Empire State building, piled on top of each other in the underwater trench that's 1200 metres at its deepest point. The animations - put together by Dunedin-based Animation Research and Taylormade Media - are shown on a large plasma screen. A guide drives the show from a touch screen, switching to other animations as birds, seals or dolphins are encountered.

"We see our people as directors working off the lead character nature and the technology underpins and empowers the guides to lift the real world up to a higher level," said Stone.

Visitors are also able to watch the boats' progress in real time - a bit like the flight tracking graphic seen on aeroplanes - except the on-the-water action is in 3D using global positioning satellites, and allows the guide to change camera angles or peel away the water to show the ocean floor below.

The wireless network that transmits data to and from the boats was built by Auckland company SeaNet using specialised 802.11 or "WiFi" technology, which reaches 20km offshore, delivering high-speed bandwidth. As well as tracking the boats, the network provides the means to monitor all events on board - what videos were shown, an assessment of how visitors reacted, what the weather was like and so on. Within a couple of weeks it will also be employed to map precise locations and other information about all whale sightings which will feed into a research database.

Stone said the technology investment, assisted by a $250,000 Technology New Zealand grant, was to develop the role of the company as guardians of the special nature of Kaikoura and championed whale conservation. It would also be used as a marketing tool - "to empower visitors as ambassadors" for Whale Watch.

"We want people to feel they've been to a special place on our planet. When people value something they want to protect it."

Plans include equipping crew with digital video cameras and sending footage of each tour back to base over the wireless network to be combined with the live tracking data.

The images would be burned to DVD or CD and given to visitors as a memento of their trip which hopefully they would show others. The information will also be combined with the company website.

* Chris Barton visited Kaikoura as a guest of Whale Watch.