This morning I went for a walk with my German room-mate Steph to the seal colony. The walk there and back took about three hours. When we got there we almost stood on a seal as it was lying at the side of the road. It scared Steph and made her jump which was funny. The sun was beating down the whole time we were out which made a nice change. I am surprised I actually made it back from the walk as it was about 12km return. Even more surprising was that my legs did...

Today I went on one of the trips that I was planning before I left home - whale watching. I went out to sea on a catamaran. The strange thing about the waters here are that they shelve very steeply and go from 50m to 800m deep in a matter of seconds. This makes for perfect conditions for sperm whales. I actually saw four whales on the trip and mananged to get photos of the moment when the tail flips up as they dive into the water. I also have video on my camera o...

The drive to Kaikoura this morning was good. It was through valleys dotted with sheep. I took a wrong turn in a small town and ended up leaving State Highway 70. I ended up on a minor road where I only passed one car. Luckily this took me out onto State Highway 1 which leads straight to Kaikoura. The highway went round twisty mountain roads before reaching the Pacific coast. It then went alongside the Transcoastal railway line. I took a walk into town to the info...