Hey everyone, we have made it all the way to New Zealand now! We arrived in Christchurch around midnight and got to the hostel shortoy after which was just outside of the Cathedral Square area (about 20minute walk) We were staying in a quiet place called Tranquil Lodge, which was perfect for us to recharge our batteries for a couple of days before heading off to Kaikoura!

So we arrived on the Naked Bus into Kaikoura at about lunch time yesterday (sunday), and were guided the whole way by the amazing New Zealand landscapes of high mountains and rivers gushing around us, but luckily a nice temperature of 27c and blue skies made the 3 hour trip fly by. When we got off the bus, an amazing view of the mountains left us in awe for a little bit before we walked the short distance to our hostel. The hostel was called Albertross Backpackers, and is one of the best hostels we have stayed in over the last 6 months, very homely.

After we settled in, we headed off on a walk from our guide book, which takes you along the coast and over the hills to see the seal colonies and the amazing views from the tops of the hills overlooking the whole bay of Kaikoura! the walk took us about 3 hours, but was well worth the effort as we got up close with 3 seals on the rocks. After that, Zoe went back and i went in search for some sea sickness tablets for our Whale watching tour the next day, unfortunitly it was Sunday, and no where open had anything other than the classic remidty of Ginger Beer.

So for the 2nd time in 2 days we were up before the sun, around 5am to get ready to spot some whales. The hostel had kindly booked the tour for us before we arrived which took out alot of the hassle. We arrived at the centre for 7am, and where off in the bus towards the docks by 7:45, before getting on. The water was calm and the sun was out, which gave it perfect conditions. The guys told us that some whales had already been spotted about 7 miles off the coast which apparently is very close inwards for sperm whales. So after about 20mins on the boat, we arrived at the first whale!!! We were only about 25meters from the head of the whale, which gave us a chance to take some decent photos and videos before is dived down giving us the very impressive last flick of its tail before it plunged under the water. We carried on driving about and saw another sperm whale, and again gave us some time to admire the huge whale!

A bit later on, we headed towards the beach in search for some dolphines, which we very quickly found, a pod of about 100 ducky dolphines jumping around just in front of the boat! The view was so impressive, all these animals so close to this small town, infront of the huge mountains! The dolphines continued to backflip and jump out the water, as we headed off in search for the worlds most endangered species of dolphines, only native to New Zealand, the Hectors dolphine. And luck was on our side as about 4 or 5 of them swam around our boat for a few minutes, just long enough to takes some pics and admire them before they ducked out of sight into the water. A truley amazing day, we just hope that the rest of NZ lives up to today.

We head backdown to Christchurch tomorrow for the night and then down to Te Aneu the day after to kayak the sound (hopefully). Miss you all loads xxxx