When we were still in Sydney we looked into what way we were going to travel around NZ. The choices were one of the 3 main bus companies – Kiwi Experience, Stray and Magic bus or driving it ourselves in a campervan! The Kiwi experience is a party bus for 18-22 year olds who go drinking every night – not for us! We were told Magic could be like going on holiday with an old folks home – not for us either! We were looking at renting a campervan and driving it ourselves but then I would have lots of driving to do (Laura still wasn’t up for driving – especially in a new country) which would mean I wouldn’t get to see a lot of the scenery plus we wouldn’t get to meet other people as much, and we have been travelling by ourselves since November! The decision was made - Stray it was! They advertise as being a company who want to show people the real NZ- taking you off the beaten track and to places the other bus companies don’t go. It is mainly 25-30 year olds on it who want to explore the country and do activities and relax with a beer at the end of the day! It pays to do your homework because it would have ruined our trip to go on the Kiwi Experience plus we would have been out the money if we wanted to change! Hopefully we’ve made the right call!!

We were meeting our Stray tour bus at the Antarctic Centre in Christchurch for our trip up the coast to Kaikoura. We were well early after the panic with the airport in Melbourne so grabbed a coffee and waited for the bus. The bus turned up early, we loaded our stuff on and we were off! Our bus driver nicknamed “Nana” seemed ok at first but over the next day showed his true colours! This guy is definitely in the wrong job as a tour guide/bus driver – he wouldn’t give us any information, was asking me about where our pass went and tried to talk us out of doing activities because he didn’t want to drive us there - in the words of James May from Top Gear “what a cock”!! The rest of the bus didn’t seem too friendly either – ignoring our hello’s as we got on the bus or just returning them with scowls – terrific – welcome to NZ!!

On the way to Kaikoura we decided to book onto the dolphin swimming trip (even though it is winter) and crossed our fingers it would be on! When we arrived the weather was perfect for going out – dead flat calm and bright sunshine but there was a problem……….no dolphins, which made it difficult to go swimming with some so it was cancelled!! We looked at the other activities and decided we would change to a whale watching flight over the coast instead (we had already done the whale watching boat cruise in Jervis bay, so we fancied a different angle to view the beauties from!)! After checking into our room at the Adelphi Lodge we got “Nana” (the bus driver who doesn’t like driving) to run us out to the airfield to meet our private jet for our flight ha ha – more like a washing machine with wings!! After running through the usual safety briefings we were off – just the 2 of us with me in the co-pilot’s seat and Laura in the back. It was great being in the front as I got to see how the pilot flew the plane – he didn’t seem to want to give me a go though! After around 5 minutes of flying we spotted our first sperm whale which looked like a submarine from above – it was huge!! Over the next 25 minutes we spotted another 2 with Laura getting some excellent snaps of them diving and swimming beside the boats – money well spent!! Kaikoura is a stunning town beside the coast with the beach and water on one side and huge snow covered peaks on the other – see the photo’s but they don’t do it justice!!

Once back in town we took a walk along the beach, got some free tomato soup from the hostel and grabbed fish and chips for tea and settled into watch one of the many videos….yes videos…. from their massive selection! We decided on Waynes World – an excellent show – never gets old!! It was off to bed after the movie ahead of our trip to Picton (small town with a ferry port) to meet our new bus. Couldn’t wait to get shot of this bus – not what we imagined for a Stray Tour but hopefully the next one would be more like it!

Craig and Laura =)