well what can i say.........kaikoura is amazing! it has been the perfect ending to my tour of New Zealand! After arriving at lunch time and checking in to the friendliest / homeliest hostel ever.........we set off to do some whale watching! Everyone has to sit inside on the boat (nice big leather chairs!) because you often have to travel fast to catch a whale before it dives! This makes it so exciting though!!! I sat up front right by the door to the front deck so i could be first out!! It was great coz i could hear the captain on his radio so when they announced that there was a whale in sight i was already on my feet!! I cant explain the feeling of running outside and seeing a whale right in front of you! it beats any zoo i have ever been to!! what you actually see is only 1/3rd of the whales actual size!! They can tend to look a bit like rocks at first until they spray some water in the air! the best bit is when they dive back down in the water............this is when you see the tale come up in the air!! it is so amazing to watch you dont know whether to take pictures or just stare in amazement! it really makes you realise what we dont know about our planet and what crazy stuff is going on somewhere in the deep blue sea!!! seeing it on tv just doesnt come close to seeing it in real life! ............there is just so much more going on than just our little lives!!! well we managed to see a total of 6 whales in an hour!! thats pretty much unheard of!!!! i felt a bit tearful just thinking about where i was and what i had just seen!!! it was one of those moments when you think someone is watching over you making sure you are happy!!!...just wish i had someone to share it all with...but i suppose thats what im writing this journal for!!!! anyway as we had seen so many whales the captain decided to take us to see some dolphins!! Dusky dolphins are the most acrobatic dolphins and they have a pod of 500 that lives here all year round!! well again i cant describe it so i had to film it on my camera............there were just dolphins everywhere!!!...they were jumping out of the water and flipping over.....some by themselves and others in groups of 5-10....all jumping at the same time!!! they were swimming with the boat right in front of us! im sure they were having so much fun!!! it was amazing!!! i had the chance to go swimming with the dolphins the next day but it is very expensive and it would be nice to do it with a friend......so i decided to go swimming with the seals instead! Had a huge steak on the bbq that evening!! hhmmmmm!!!!! 10th after a lazy morning we started to get ready for the seal swim!!! i think we had the thickest wet suits ever but by god we neede them!!! the water was freezing!!!! seal swim was really good except when we reached the beach there was a dead seal floating in the water with no head!!....apparently it was probably a shark attack!!! (or an orca attack - killer whale!) oh great..........i really want to go swimming in there now!!!.......to make matters worse we looked exactly like great big juicy seals with our thick black wetsuits and black hoods on!! well we did survive and we saw alot of seals! they are so strange underwater as their eyes glow blue!! apparently its some type of membrane but no-one knows what its for! they swim away from you and when you move away they follow you......like they are playing a game!!!! anyway it was really good .......even if i did keep expecting to see a seal head go floating by!!!! 11th we arrived back in wellington today and i decided i couldnt live in flip flops for a month as its too cold here now and even colder in river valley!....... (my trainers stink too bad to wear......nice!!) so ..... im now trying to make my $30 (12 pounds) ugg boots look less cheap chick and more surfer chick.....i probably look a bit weird as walking along scuffing my toes and rubbing my feet on any dirty looking objects!! well i am leaving for river valley tomorrow ( see previous journal entries) to work for a month before heading for australia .........so i will update you all if anything exciting happens in the world of cleaning!!!!!!!! take care, miss you all, have fun love kristy xxx