We woke to grey skies and wind! But still warm, the lady at the holiday park had promised hot sun but we don't suppose it will matter on our whale searching quest - today's adventure!

Sandwiches made we walked the half hour or so into the Whaleway Station (yes really, the conservation-minded tour company have built their premises on the site of the old whaling station) where we sat enjoying the sea view and waited for our trip to begin. The Whale Watch Company has been running for 20+years now and was set up by a local Maori family. They have three (or four) jet engine catamaran's especially designed so that they can travel offshore at speed (17miles out in our case) yet stop very quickly should a whale be spotted and most importantly the engines - not being propeller's - can't damage the mammals.

Our craft was the Aoraki - (Ammerarki) - cloud piercer. We were warned that the sea was going to be rough, susceptible people would likely be sea sick, but although rough it transpired that there were more sea dogs than land-lubbers on our cat. The trip was excellent, the craft very comfortable and we had excellent on-going presentations to keep us entertained as our Maori Captain and Irish 'Searcher' did their best to put us in the right place. And they did!

We were rewarded by lengthy views of a Sperm Whale, he/she floated around giving us excellent views and enough water spouts to amuse us before an epic dive with a wonderful tail view - which we didn't really manage to snap! Onward we went and caught sight of another whale just as it dove. We also saw Albatross, dolphin, New Zealand fur seals (very smelly apparantly) and seals. Happy sailors, we returned to base and had a very welcome coffee in the Whaleway station. Btw: a sperm whale's tooth can be up to 25cm long and weigh approx 1kilo!)

Conversation between us and the Barrista:

Us: 'Two long black coffee's to go with hot milk on the side please.'

Barrista: 'Hmmm....now how can I do that for you?'

So typical of responses we have encountered everywhere, not 'we can't', but instead 'how can we'.

A walk back to the campsite en route collecting the Crayfish Shirley had ordered for her tea! Last lobster was eaten with Russ and Paula in Novia Scotia far too many years ago, so it was overdue. (Ok, ok - lobster is not Crayfish but the luxury of the treat is definitely comparable!)

Tonight we sit in hot sunshine with a glass of local Salty Dog red wine (Shirl) and Coke (Dave), the next three days are roughly planned out and we have lots to look forward too. (Btw. We are also surrounded by ducks and a few gulls, the gulls after the fish the ducks the clover in the park grass.)

Cheers!