Hi everyone,

We boarded the bus from Queenstown and because it had been so cold we had snow the night before....well not on the ground but up in the mountains so the drive to kaikoura was lined with snow capped mountains. I started to feel a little bit ill with the sniffles which i probably caught from Lou. The bus journey itself wasn't too bad i found it a little boring though since Lou and Hayley had just gotten new books and they were on a mission I'm sure Hayley finished her book within the 12 hour bus journey............maybe a slight exaggeration but not far off!!I bought a book as well but i was struggling to get in to it, i couldn't find Wally anywhere haha that was a joke......but not really.

By the time we hit Kaikoura it was late and dark so we checked into the lazy shag hostel and we had 3 nights here and the main attraction that kaikoura was renowned for was its dolphin swimming which we had heard so many good things about from Katie. We were going to do the dolphin swimming the following day but we heard the weather forecast wasn't so good but it was going to improve the day after so we all put our names down. However the next day i took a turn for the worst and Hayley was starting to get it as well, I stayed in bed all day and surrendered to my antibiotics that we had bought in Malaysia for such an occasion so i diagnosed myself with chest infection because that's what they were for and hoped for the best that it would miraculously clear up. Lou had to play the mother role this time and she went out on a mission to get us some food and she made me some nice hot soup with hot French bread...............just what i needed. However by the time night came i made the decision that i wasn't able to do the dolphin swim........i was aching i was weak and the last thing i wanted was to jump in the pacific ocean., Hayley on the other hand was determined that she was doing it no matter what.................you do know that she has had 100% attendance certificates from work for the past 3 years so there was no keeping her down. Me on the other hand takes days off for having a blister so i was ruled out!!!

They booked onto the 5.30am tour the next morning and it was touch and go if the tour was going to run or not because of the rough waters, the previous day had got cancelled so fingers crossed. They got up got ready and they headed down to the shop where they got told it was cancelled so they had to walk all the way back and they jumped straight back into bed and hoped that the 12.30 tour will still be running. It came to 12 o clock and i was up and walking about and i made the impulse decision to do it, my thought behind the idea was that if i didn't feel up to swimming with them or the water was too rough then i could just watch them and i would only get charged the watching rate rather than the swimming rate. Swimming with dolphins here we come!!!

We got into our wet suits and headed to the harbour where we would board the boat, the boat ride out was mental the waters were really rough and on their grade scale it was one away from the trip being called off. Louise and Hayley were going wild screaming "IM SOOO EXCITED!!!!"I on the other hand was more subdued and rather ill. Their spirits were soon dampened when the host announced that we were turning back because of engine difficulties! 20 minutes back on shore while the mechanics did the once over and we were back heading out on the search for dolphins. We got the shout that a pod of dolphins had been spotted about 2 minutes away and it wasn't long before they were everywhere!!!!!!!!!........ Louise and Hayley's excitement levels went through the roof it made me exhausted just looking at how excited they were but i must admit when you see them swimming and jumping up near the boat it was amazing! We donned our snorkels and mask and we quickly loaded onto the back of the boat eager to jump off into the icy waters.............we heard the siren......and were off!!!! The cold didn't even hit us due to the excitement and adrenaline.............we were told to make noises because the dolphins will interact more if you make sounds so we were all screaming our heads off and within seconds they pop up out of nowhere swimming in and out of everyone incredibly fast and they come right up to you make eye contact and start circling you and you try and keep up and you can see in their eyes that their smiling and having a great time but not as much as us..............we were all taken back on how amazing it was!!!! Sometimes you just want to get one in a headlock and have a little play fight or stroke it or maybe even grab onto his fin for a free ride haha when the pod swims off we get back onto the boat and drive to the next pod and there would be hundreds of dolphins in this pod and we just dive in and start swimming with them...........it is just surreal! On the way back we all agreed that it was the best thing we have done in New Zealand and I'm so glad i made the decision to do it. Hayley and Lou were in hysterics screaming "THIS IS THE BEST DAY OF MY LIFE........AHHHHHHHH" we also got hot chocolate and ginger biscuits as we returned to the harbour. Sweet!! As we walked back to the hostel we had the snow capped mountains in the background which just looked painted on and to top off a great day we had a good old sausage, beans, potato fritters and egg fry up!! Perfect!!

The next day we checked out and headed to Christchurch where we boarded a plane to Auckland and spent our last full night together before Hayley headed home and we carried on. The same hostel we started in was also where we would finish in. To celebrate an unbelievable trip together we ordered dominoes pizza and watched a movie. The next day the time had come for Hayley to depart us but not before she bought us some special treats...................caramel slice, sausage roll blueberry bread! Woo Woo!! Not only that she off loaded all her left over products, we managed to bag some tiger balm, face wash and shampoo haha it was like Christmas!! We had a big group hug and said our goodbyes at the hostel and then waved her off.

We would both like to say that it's been great seeing you and we hope you have had as good a time as we have. We can honestly say that this trip wouldn't have been the same without you and thanks for EVERYTHING!!!! See you soon!!!

Love Adam, Louise and Hayley xxx