Yesterday morning we were up early and outside by 7.45am ready to depart with our new (DJ wanabe) driver, Bagginz (who we thought was a woman at first!). We left Christchurch and headed up the East coast, calling for a breakfast stop en-route. We pulled into the seaside town of Kaikoura around 12.00pm and after a quick tour and a kodak moment at the lookout point, we checked into the Adelphi Lodge (unfortunately with the creepy Italian, Dario in our room!). We enjoyed Pate and camembert and tomato on toast (not together!) then headed straight to the Whale Watch centre for our 1.15pm check in. After a short bus ride to the marina we boarded our boat and immediately took our seats (compulsory whilst in transit - we soon saw why!). The journey out to the Kaikoura Canyon was very fast and bumpy - with us screaming at one point as we bounced down over a wave! Once nearing the canyon we saw massive Albatross and other sea birds before someone shouted ' there's one' and we got a view of Tiaki, our first Sperm Whale. We spent about 10 minutes watching the whale chill on the surface, taking breaths ready to dive down into the sea , where it would be able to hold its breath for upto 45 minutes. After one final big breath, Tiaki arched his back and flipped his tail into the air as he started his descent to the ocean floor. After another bumpy transit we arrived at a part of the canyon where another Sperm Whale was expected to rise to the surface. After a while on the top deck, frantically looking for the spray from the exhaling whale, we saw Little Nick, our second male Sperm Whale of the day. Again we watched him for about 10-15 minutes before he returned under the surface. After this it had almost been 45 minutes since Tiaki had dived down, so we knew he was due back to the surface. After a few minutes searching, Laura was the first to spot him in the distance. We spent a while watching him before he went back 'down under'. The crew on the boat, who had been very informative between viewings, gave us the option of seeing Little Nick again or trying to find some Dusky Dolphins. We didn't mind either way - we were so happy to have seen Whales (especially as the group before us hadn't!), but the majority voted for Dolphins and after a brief glimpse of Little Nick (actually we both missed him!) we found the Dolphins. They were many of them, frolicking in the water, being very acrobatic, it was magical to watch. Unfortunately it was then time to return to shore, it had been an awesome trip and we had been very lucky. We arrived back at the centre at 4.30pm and wandered the shops and High Street, before returning to the hostel for veg soup, friends, a film (Maybe Baby) and a good book! We were tucked up just after 11.00pm.

This morning we had a slight lie-in (got up at 8.00am), the bus left at 9.00pm and after a breakfast stop and a photo opp at a(nother) seal colony, we arrived at the Picton Ferry terminal. We checked in and boarded the ferry around 12.30pm, setting sail at 1.15pm. We enjoyed 'lunch' of cup a soups and cereal bars whilst the boat rocked around us, and arrived back in Wellington at 4.30pm. We got transfered back to Base and dumped our bags (lucky to get a room after our driver had forgot to book them!) before heading out for food. We enjoyed a Subway and some fries before returning to the hostel to do some long overdue laundry and enjoy some rice pudding!