Dec 28th 2011 Nelson to Blenheim via Picton.

Dare I say it - -we have an easy day today - only 50 miles to our next accommodation!!Drove through the Rai Valley. V scenic again through heavily wooded valley. Stopped at Havelock at the marina. V picturesque sound surrounded by heavily wooded mountains. Hundreds of boats moored here. We then took the coastal route to Picton. The road twisted and turned up the wooded mountains, Z bend after Z bend & the same going down. Scenic views over Queen Charlottes sound. Had our lunch overlooking Picton Harboiur where our boat will leave from on Friday. Went to check out arrangements for leaving car and picking another up from Wellington. Drove out of Picton towards Blenheim. Vineyards now & fruit growing. We are in the province of Marlborough which is a vine growing area famous in particular for Sauvignon Blanc & is now getting a reputation for its Pinot Noir. As we head towards the mountain range we notice that these are not at all wooded except for a few small plantations here and there. Our hotel, the Marlborough Scenic has been recently refurbished and really nice and bright and modern. We caught up with our washing and chilled out by the pool in the afternoon. No microwave so we had a Domino's pizza for tea. Hope to go to Kaikoura tomorrow to view some whales. Rain forecast!! Ugh!!

Dec 29th 2011 (Thurs) Blenheim to Kaikoura(day trip)

Drove through the mountains towards Kaikoura in the hope of seeing whales. Turns out that the mountains are covered in grass. Some have cattle grazing on them mostly Aberdeen Angus. Many vineyards too on the level areas and lower slopes. Salt pans at one stage as sea water is trapped & then allowed to evaporate. Some sheep but mostly long browny grass. Lots of Viper's Bugloss growing in the verges. Later we join the coast and railway line follows same path. Volcanic/glacial sand. Higher mountains with snow caps in the distance. Suddenly spotted fur seals in the sea so pulled over. There were so many seals, huge males, females and cubs. They were very active, moving over rocks, swimming in the sea and playing in rock pools. This is the Ohau Point Seal Colony.

Drove on to Kaikoura. Unfortunately the first available sailing for Whale watching was at 3pm so we had a bit of a walkabout, our lunch & a coffee. In the meantime it started pouring. Pleased that we've moved from Nelson as it's feared that this rain might cause more landslides. Drove out to the little fishing harbour - seems to be a lot of crayfifh caught & eaten here.

Went out on the Whale watching boat at 3.30pm. The Sperm Whale lives here but only the males as they have more blubber (?17") than the females (too much beer, sausages and chips, I expect!).The females live around Tonga & Samoa. The males go there at age around 40 when they have fed here and grown big & strong enough to fight other males for the females. Males live here because there is an underwater canyon 3000m deep. Sperm whales can dive deeper than any man made submarine. They can stay under for about 90mins. They turn everything off apart from their hearts & brain. There is no sunlight at this depth & many creatures that live here make their own light (bioluminescence I think) to attract prey. The sperm whale uses echo location & can make sounds/ vibrations that are capable of killing sharks. It swallows its prey whole. It's favourite food is Giant Squid & there are plenty of these in the canyon. These are good for sperm whales because they are easily digested (apart from the beak) and are also full of fresh water.

We saw 2 sperm whales, one dived almost immediately sgowing the characteristic 'tail'. The other coasted along for about 10 minutes spouting at 45 degrees which is characteristic of this type of whale. It eventually dived too showing first the hump & then the tail. We also saw loads of Dusky dolphin which loved to swim at the bow wave. We saw 2 types of Albatross, 2m & 3m wingspan and also some Giant Petrels. We moved on and saw some more NZ fur seals. There are a few sightings every year of Blue whales but they are still endangered and are struggling to recover from intensive whaling. The blue whale is the largest animal that has ever lived.

We drove back quickly & had a McDs as we have to get ready for our sailing to North Island tomorrow.

Dec 30th (Fri) Blenheim to Wellington via Picton