Its 1st day of our tour and we were, slighty nervously, waiting at 7am for a bright orange bus to pick us up. Had we done the right thing? would hiring a car and going solo been better? After a few hours and many "hello, im lorna/kev, how long you in here for? when you leaving?" we arrived at the most beautiful place i have ever seen.

Supposedly the name Hahei came from an army generals nose as it was the same shape as a piece of rock in the bay (its a nice story even if it is just for the tourists) within 30 mins we were changed and heading for an afternoon of sea kayaking. There was only 3 of us to do it which we prefered as did Nick our guide.

The sea was lovely and calm which made it much easier to get in and through some of the caves and navigate the underwater bolders that were dotted round the islands. As we were gliding through the crystal clear waters we were just in awe of the miles and miles of the most breathe taking scenery imagenable. We landed at Cathedral Cove for a hot chocolate and a few biccy's before paddling back through Stringray Bay, the water was clear 4m down and you could see the fish and rays swimming around.

For dinner on our first night we had our own Canadian chef called Steve and his minions cooked an amazing BBQ , thank god for french cooking high standards and no burgers or cheap sausages insight.

All in all a very successful first day, so i'm going with yes we definitely made the right decision :)