Sunday 18th Jan we headed to Kaikoura and the reason for stopping here is to swin with the Dusky Dolphins. We booked in for Tuesday at 5.30am. Early to bed on Monday and up at 4.30am. The weather was bit windy as we walked along to the office and when we arrived we were advised that the skipper was going to make a decision on the trip in 15mins. Unfortunatly it was cancelled so rebooked for the first avaliable spot which was to be Sunday! Walked back and went straight back to bed.....yawn. Later that day we got a call saying two spaces were available for tomorrow at 5.30am so here we go again. Up at 4.30am and along to the office this time we were checked in and kitted out with a wet suit, snorkel, jacket and thing that looked like a balaclava. We looked lovely but i just hoped it would keep us warm. The boat took us out and so the search began for dolphins, about 20 mins in we found them and away we went, jumped in and swam about singing through our snorkels to attract them. Not too many about so back on the boat. Attempt two was a lot better. They were so wondeful and would swim right around you. The last time we jumped in Claire was not feeling great so i kept by her but she then spewed and i had to swim away yuck! poor girl but she recovered enough to see the hundreds of dolphins. There must have been about 300 just swimming inbetween us at the end. Fantastic!

That afternoon we went out whale watching and my goodness it was choppy! Claire was not sick but she did look rather silly swaying in time with the boat. I was incharge of photos and i hope i got a few good ones. We saw 2 Sperm Whales and 1 Humpback Whale who was playing with some dolphins. All in all a really amazing day.

The next few days we caught the ferry back to Wellington and stayed 2 nights then back on the magic bus to Napier. We are here for a few days and going to tour some winerys tomorrow.