Beautiful Kaikoura, surrounded by snowy mountains called me back for a few days for one last chance to swim with Dusky dolphins...and despite weather warnings I was priviledged to witness a pod of 50 Dusky dolphins gleefully charging towards the boat, a sight I will never forget! Once I was in the water (freezing but I soon forgot about that!), they were so playful and gentle and came up really close. We played by spinning round in a circle underwater with the ...

Its soooo beautiful here! and soo peaceful! But you must be sick of hearing that by now! Walked along the Queen Charlottle track, along a mountain ridge where you could see two sides of Marlborough Sounds, on with bright blue water and the other with green water, both with montains and islands, just stunning in the sunshine and the sound of birdsong. Swiming with Hectors dolphin, the worlds smallest (1.2m) and rarest dolphin, however, was a different story. The...

Its apparently llike England. Only with worse Japanese food and less rain :-( Oh and the worst hostel EVER. Think dirty, smelly, cramped, creepy, noisy... Enough said about this place!

I have been meeting the local wildlife, an interesting lot! Our hostel in the Catlins was right on the beach, home of the Sea Lions which, despite thier lazy and almost comatose appearance, can actually move at an impressive speed as I found out, nearly to my peril, as I was being chased by a huge bull Sea Lion with enormous teeth! Luckily all that training at the gym paid off (haha) and I escaped with all my limbs intact. And they roar, just like a lion. I gues...

Queenstown, home of crazy adrenaline activities! I have been quite sedate though, watching my frineds leap off bridges attached by only a rubber band (albeit quite a thick one) was enough excitement/terror for me! I hadn't realised how beautiful it was around here- magestic snow capped mountains, glassy lakes, all picture postcard stuff. Much like the whole of New Zealand actually, this country really is is breath taking and looks just like the postcards :-) We...