The long bus ride to Christchurch was broken up by a stop at lake Pukaki, a beautiful aqua blue lake with Mount cook in the background, and at lake Tekapo to see New Zealands oldest church. We arrived in Christchurch and thought how English everything looked and sounded, we were staying on Gloucester road near Manchester street on the river Avon! Spent the evening walking around the city centre and cathedral square. Next morning I walked along the river to the botanical gardens and park (one of 700 in Christchurch which is why its called the garden of NZ I guess!) Passed the boatshed which offered punting on the Avon, looked like a lot of fun so I decided to give it a go. Had a whole boat and a man with a smart uniform, hat and punting stick all to myself so had a very relaxing half hour on the river. Went to Christchurch cathedral and the arts centre in the afternoon which had a weekend market and some cute cafes where I sat and watched the trams drive by. On the way back I stumbled across the jazz and blues festival in South Lichfield square so enjoyed some time listening to musci in the sun, a very cultural day all in all!

Today (Monday) I was back on the coach at 8 heading to kaikoura, a coastal town famous for its marine life. Unfortunately I couldnt get a place on the dolphin swimming trip so opted for whale watching instead. We drove in a boat 3 miles out from the coast to where the water was over 8000ft deep and after 30 minutes our grew thought they had a sighting. They out what looked like a giant metal detector into the water to pick up whale noises and confirm it was nearby and then we were off in pursuit of it. Sure enough there was a huge sperm whale lying asleep in the water spraying out water every 20 seconds. Was amazing to see the size of it but because it was napping unfortunately we didnt get to see it dive under water and flick its tail up at us. On the way back we ran into a pod of dusky dolphins, about 300 leaping around the boat and showing off to us. They were so quick it was difficult to take photos as you can see! Also went past some unusual white rocks but turns out they became white through all the seagulls using them as toilet spots. They did have some random grey patches on them which appeared to move at times and were actually New Zealand fur seals. When we got back we were given a bit of a refund for not seeing a whale awake, which was a bonus given I thought i'd had more than my monies worth with what I saw.

Almost coming to an end of our time in New Zealand now, no more adventures left but am heading to Wellington tomorrow to be reunited with Leanna. A night out in Taupo I expect before going back to Auckland and then Chile awaits...