We spent today dodging the cyclonic weather. We first went into Hokitika where we visited a jade factory and saw how they went about carving and polishing jade which was very interesting. We spent the rest of the day travelling to Kaikoura through very rainy and windy weather and we saw some very dramatic skies. At one point as we came down through the mountains on very narrow and winding roads we went through a thick band of low cloud which made driving conditions very bad!

When we finally made it to Kaikoura the weather made it possible to explore the town a little and grab some chips for dinner.

The next morning we headed down to the whaleway station (it's actual name) to book onto a whale watching trip. Luckily for us this one wasn't cancelled and we set off early afternoon. The seas were still quite rough but soon enough the crew were listening out for giant sperm whales which were on their ascent to the surface. Whales dive down for around 45 minutes before resurfacing so we were waiting for this to happen. We first saw the glimpse of its blow hole and the spray of water it creates and then there it was a giant sperm whale just on the surface of the water. We saw two whales in total and what was amazing was seeing them descend as they show their entire tail.

On our return to shore we stopped to see hundreds of dusky dolphins in the water all playing and doing acrobatics. It was an amazing sight. We also saw seals in the water and albatross. It was a perfectly sunny day and the trip couldn't have been better...and yes they thought I was kidding that my last name was Whales!