KATIE

Well, this time we actually managed to get off and stay off the train when it arrived in Kaikoura! Unfortunately, as we feared the strong wind meant the whale trip was cancelled once again but we were assured that the forecast for tomorrow morning was good and that the morning trips ran more often than the afternoon. So, with hope in my heart for seeing whales tomorrow we trudged off along a short cut to the hostel which involved negotiating our way through a hole in the fence and across the train tracks through to the other side. Never in the UK would someone advise you to do that..... Having said that, there are only about 2 trains a day, and having just got off one of them it was pretty safe!

We decided to cycle up to the seal colony, probably about 3 miles from town, and maybe do a little walk. Luckily the hostel had free bikes for us to use. Unluckily (for James at least) it was about 4.30pm and pretty much all the bikes had already been taken except one modern one suitable for moi, and one, well, 'classic' bike shall we call it, that James could use. The owner had thrown out most of the old bikes when he upgraded his collection, but had kept a few old favourites. I'll let the photo speak for itself - needless to say, James didn't have the luxury of gears. Which was a shame for him given the gale force wind that was blowing against us as we went up a small incline on the journey!! So, to cope with the added energy requirement he called me to a halt to stop for a whitebait sandwich at a snack hut along the way. Whitebait is one of the local specialities and we were really keen to try it and it was amazing! Totally different to how it's done at home, they do it in a pattie, so mix loads of the fish with egg and lemon juice / seasoning and grill it. Very, very good!

We were lucky to arrive at the seal colony just as one huge seal was putting on a good display very close to the car park wall. He was literally showing off, standing really tall, having a good look all around him, shuffling around then decided the modelling lark was all too much effort and settled down for a sleep! Walked up to Point Kean (only about 200m but very steep uphill) to get a good view of the rest of the colony then battled the wind once more to return for a nice shower! Luckily the hostel had a cancellation so we got upgraded to a studio with en-suite which was wicked - had its own kitchen and was separate from the rest of the hostel - mainly because their baby son (8 months old) was also called James!! We drank the bottle of bubbly we'd bought at Cloudy Bay, as much to celebrate how wicked New Zealand has been and what a wonderful time we'd had and then had a brilliant meal out. I had green lipped mussels and James had a steak true to form but we pigged out and had pudding too for only the second time on our trip! Although, for the first time, and much to James' disappointment I ate all my pudding - without a doubt the best cheesecake I've ever had (sorry to anyone who has ever made me cheesecake, but it was truly fabulous!)

With fingers crossed we negotiated the rail tracks once again in the morning and luckily the whale trip was running!! Rather more unfortunately, the note against the trip on the screens said 'severe sea sickness warning' due to the large swell on the water. Hhmmm. Still, it was a beautiful sunny day without a cloud in the sky and it was the only chance we'd have so we steeled ourselves for a bumpy ride and paid over our money! There was certainly a big swell, but neither of us were doing badly, but were quite relieved when we slowed down in an area where another boat had noted a sperm whale diving about 25 minutes earlier. Apparently their average dive time is around 45 minutes so they were expecting him to re-surface shortly. Sure enough after about 20 mins or so his blow was seen and we saw this huge, wonderful creature about 20m in length lolling around on the surface. What's nice about Whale Watch is that they don't use sonar to attract the whales, they use echo -location only to listen for them so they don't disturb the whales, and the boats stay a good distance away from them. Apparently their flukes are as individual as our fingerprints and the whale watch team know the resident whales very well, this particular one has been living in the area for 19 years now, so the boats obviously don't worry them! We watched him on the surface for 10 mins or so before he dived down and James got the iconic photo of the fluke rising in the water - well done James!!

Next we sped away, with the swell even bigger and a number of people being a bit sick to a calmer piece of water where we watched a pod of around 100 dusky dolphins, so I was absolutely in my element - they were beautiful and some swam right in front and under the boat - our position right at the helm was about as perfect as it could get! It was very hard to get any good photos as most of them were a little distance away playing and jumping around but the view was good from the boat! After that we braved the swell once more to see some fur seals near South Bay, they really are very sweet - well, to look at they are, I don't think I'd want to get on the wrong side of one!

After a nice lunch in the wholefood, organic cafe it was time to leave Kaikoura, which is a beautiful seaside town, and catch the Trans Scenic back to Christchurch, where we're spending a very short night as we need to get to the airport at 4.30am tomorrow morning, lovely.....

Well, we're both going to be really sad to leave New Zealand, we've had an amazing two weeks here and would love to spend longer. It's certainly now my favourite country I've ever visited and if it wasn't for the fact that we're leaving to go to Ayers Rock, I just might cry....Goodbye South Island!!

JAMES

So, we finally made it to Kaikoura! As you can see from the photos, it is yet another stunning location. The Pacific Ocean rolls in to the backdrop of the snow-capped Seaward Kaikoura mountain range, with extend 2600m skywards. Especially at some points during the day when the ocean is almost a turquoise colour, it is truly spectacular! South Island certainly is not short in the looks department. In fact, it is not really short in any department. Apart from maybe the staying-up-late department. We were the last people left in a pub the other day at 9pm, and the staff were clearly not expecting new patrons to walk through the door judging by the I-want-to-go-home-eyes they were making at us!

As Katie said, our whale spotting trip was cancelled because of strong winds blowing in off the sea, so we grabbed a couple of bikes form the backpackers and headed off for Kean Point. Katie got a spanking new mountain bike, admittedly with dodgy gears. I got a rust-bucket jalopy of a bike - kind of a cross between a Raleigh Chopper and an old lady bike. With a crash helmet which had clearly been carved from a block of polystyrene, and had front and back written on it, it came pretty close to the most stupid look of the holiday! But despite the poor equipment and a strong headwind we were soon pulling in (having overtaken at great speed a couple on decent bikes I might add!) at a roadside food van advertising whitebait rolls for $8. Having read about them in Lonely Planet, I was desperate to try this speciality of the season. Nothing like British whitebait (which are still delicious) - not bread-crumbed and fried, but rather cooked on a hotplate in a 2 egg omelette, then served in a roll with lettuce and lemon juice. Fantastic!

After battling the headwind we made in round to Kean Point and saw a couple of fur seals. One was very close to the car park and was definitely playing to the cameras, striking a few good poses before it all became too exhausting and he lay down for a sleep. We then walked up to the cliff top for more great views, headed back to the hostel, drunk our delicious bottle of Cloudy Bay champagne (although they obviously cannot call it champagne, it is made methode traditionelle). By now it was gone 8, so we feared that all of Kaikoura's chefs would be tucked up in their beddy-byes, so it might be cheese sarnies for us. But fortunately we found a restaurant at the end of town that served up a fantastic 3 course dinner and a really good bottle of local Kaikoura sauvignon blanc. And Katie really did eat all of her desert. How rude!

Third time lucky this morning, we got on our whale watching trip. The seas were pretty heavy, although we had been forewarned of "strong sea sickness warning" when we checked in, so we bought a couple of seasickness pills to be on the safe side. After ploughing about 7 miles out to see, the captain made the call that there was a Sperm Whale who had just surfaced from a dive. They normally dive for about 45 minutes, then surface for 10 minutes or so to re-oxygenate and have a rest. When we arrived we could see about 2/3 of this huge creature lolling about on the surface, blowing water spouts as he recuperated ahead of the next dive. And then sure enough, after about 10 minutes, he did just that. And that meant I was able to get the money shot - the fluke of his tail up in the air as he dived down. Wicked! They are awesome creatures - the 3rd largest whale (grow up to 17m long), and the largest toothed predator in the world. I thought all whales just ate plankton and dull stuff like that. But no. Those with teeth can eat much more interesting stuff. The Sperm Whales diet is made up about 2/3 of small 30cm squid, but they also eat a good amount of giant squid (which grow up to 30m long with all their tentacles), large sea fish including grouper and kingfish, and most surprisingly, sharks!! One Sperm Whale was once found with a Great White Shark in its belly!! Surely that cannot be true?!? The only animal to predate on Sperm Whales are the Orcas (Killer Whales) which hunt in packs. They have been seen in the Kaikoura area, but sadly none were about today. Disappointing, I would love to see them in the wild (and I didn't know that they are actually a type of dolphin, not a whale).

After the Sperm Whale we raced off to see a load of dolphins - they were about 100 dusky dolphins, leaping out of the water and getting up to all sorts of antics. This brought lots of oohs and aahs from Katie and the Scottish lady standing next to her, and kept them happy! Well, kept the Scottish lady happy until she had to hurl into a bag on the choppy ride back, along with half the other passengers! Lightweights!!

Since the cruise we have taken a fairly uneventful train journey down to Christchurch, checked into our hotel and then been in this internet cafe for 1h40m so far. It's now nearly 9pm, and we need to go get something to eat and then pack our bags properly as we are taking our first flight for 2 weeks tomorrow so have to pack neatly. And then we have got to get up at 3.30am to get to the airport! Really don't want to leave New Zealand, we have both absolutely fallen in love with the country and had such a great time here. There is so much more to see and do on South Island, let alone North Island. We will definitely have to come back one day soon! Can't complain though, we'll be at Uluru by lunchtime...