Finally made it to Nigel and Kellys...

The ferry sailed on time and after a rough crossing docked at Picton. On the way down to Kiakoura we stopped at a nice winery to do some 'tasting', apparently they do lots of that here!

The scenery on the way down was stunning, very green and hilly, I could just imagine hobbits and the like running about in front of us. Kiakoura is a small township but spread out quite a bit along the coast and ending at a peninsula where they have a seal colony of fur seal. We went horse riding yesterday and went to see the seals today...they did a bit of posing, and we even saw a baby penguin that we think had lost its way from the south beach where they nest. It didn't want to get back into the water but had dissapeared by the time we walked back down to the car park, hope it found its mummy.

A good day today...sun out anyway, although got to do a very cold dive on Baxters Reef out of South Bay. Nothing much to see apart from Paua (a molusc) and Cray, but it was good to get in the water again.

Our plans for doing more touristy things have been scuppered by the really bad weather thats come down over the past few days. Went for a great walk this morning up to a small waterfall where baby seals stay and play all day while thier mothers go out to sea. They were very playful and inquisitive, coming as close to under a metre to me! We then went for a walk along the headland of South Bay...Nigel showed me where they used to drag the whales up from the sea, glad they dont do that now! On the way back we stopped off at the Coast Guard Station to see if we could see any of the penguins that nested there. We managed to see one baby which made the afternoon worthwhile.

More bad weather which has resulted in me getting a cold-just what I want now I'm planning my beach time in Oz. More baby seal watching, now it's the school holidays we got to take Christopher and Charlotte there as well which they really enjoyed. Today the guys went out to do some duck shooting. They shot two and I watched them being skined. It's nice to see where your food comes from...gross but so enthralling! Can't believe my time here is nearly over.