I had a solid 8 hours on the bus the following day, the highlight of which was being mobbed by a herd of cows on the road. I'm pretty sure the cows out here are even denser than the ones at home. I also found out that my drivers grandma was in the Good Charlotte video for boys and girls, a fact I was very jealous of, especially after finding out that she went backstage with them when they toured New Zealand.

After a looooooong day on the bus I found myself back in Kaikoura with a sense of déjà vu as I was in the exact same room in the hostel that I stayed in on my first way round the South Island. Dan and Alison were in a different hostel but I was happy to find out that there were only two other guys in my room - one of which, Adam, was from Queensbury. We spent a good ten minutes chatting about old school Rios, and it's pretty likely we crossed paths there once or twice in the past. Small world! Since we'd arrived pretty late there wasn't much to do, Kaikoura is very quiet over the winter and it was chucking it down, so we watched some films with the other people from the bus and went to bed.

A bright sunny day welcomed me when I woke up the next morning, a lovely change from the rain that had battered the bus all the way from Christchurch. With the weather in mind Adam, Alex and I decided to walk round the peninsula to the seal colony. The walk itself started pretty easily on the road, and once we got to the car park that signalled the route over the peninsula we had a bit of a shock. I'd heard some barking in some bushes near the entrance to the car park, and thought it was a dog, but when I looked closer there were two massive seals having a bit of a shout at each other. They blend in surprisingly well I'll tell you! These seals are New Zealand fur seals, like the ones I saw further down the coast, named forsteri, but seeing them up close I was surprised at the size of them. Round the car park we were in they literally just loll about everywhere, there was even one taking up a car parking space!

A funny thing I've noticed about seals is that they sleep upside down which looks like the most uncomfortable position ever but they seem to enjoy it! It does make them look somewhat contorted but in the cutest way possible. Walking around the head of the peninsula I've never seen so many seals in my life, they just hang out on the rocky beaches and the raised reefs, apparently there are about 10,000 round Kaikoura - I'm just glad I don't have the job of counting them! As we got further around the path got ridiculously boggy, so much so my trainers went from grey to brown, so when we climbed down to the beach I decided to give my hands and trainers a rinse in the water, not seeing a wave that was rushing in and decided to soak my feet up to the ankles. Woops! The remainder of the walk was done in wet feet but it didn't detract from the gorgeous scenery around; Adam and I both agreed that it looked a lot like home, but a bit taller! Especially with the cows and sheep milling around. A big difference was that obviously we were near the sea so there were numerous seagulls, and when I say numerous I mean thousands, or at least that's what it seemed like. They were a damn sight noisier than the ones at home too, it was almost deafening as we walked past them sitting in the fields and wheeling around the sky. Another common type of bird round here is the shag (no laughing) which is similar to a cormorant and can dive up to 40 metres into the sea to get nice big fish for tea. They are really funny to see as they have really long necks and just look a bit gangly.

Once we'd walked all around the peninsula it was time for a fish butty, delicious! The evening was spent pretty much the same as the previous one, nice and relaxed for the next day where I had booked to go sea kayaking. Thus on my final day here I got up bright and early and walked down to the sea kayaking place, to find I was the only person booked in that morning so I'd be having a private session! Not being a huge fan of the sea I was a little nervous about capsizing, but once all suited and booted in my waterproof pants, skirt for the kayak and life jacket I felt relatively safe! Once we were out on the water I was surprised how sturdy the kayaks feel, and since the ocean was pretty calm there was nothing too scary, facing my fears wasn't as bad as I thought. The main idea behind the kayaking is to go out and see the seals in the water so we duly went out towards the reefs where there were a couple of playful seals having a swim around. Seeing them in the water at such close range is brilliant, from seeming so slow and ungainly on land (even though they can run at up to 20km/h) they are sleek and agile in the water, spinning around, scratching their heads with the little claws on their back flippers (bet you didn't know they had those) diving down into the depths and just generally putting synchronised swimmers to shame.

I had a great time out on the water, despite my shoulders burning by the time we finished, my lack of upper body strength is just embarrassing sometimes. We saw some petrels whilst out as well, massive seabirds that can get up to about 2 metres wingspan and skim along the tops of the waves, amazing to see so near. Once back on land and in dry socks - I was really surprised how dry you stay on the kayaks, but then you do wear a lot of waterproof layers so I'd expect no less - I went back to the hostel to relax before another day out on the sea tomorrow - the ferry to Wellington awaited.

Becca