Dear Diary (17/12),

Left Christchurch at 7.30am & there was only 10 of us on the bus. Arrived in Kaikoura (means food of the crayfish) by 12pm. It is very similar to Bay of Islands, which I loved, as is not too big & is really chilled out.

I messed up my activities as I signed up for a seal swim rather than a dolphin swim. However it turned ok as was able to book dolphin swim for the following morning & the seal swim was pretty amazing. I had a hell of a shock while snorkling & a seal swam right in front of, coming from nowhere (that was the shock & not the fact I saw a seal!!). Saw several more swimming around & near us & got really close to a couple of colonies on the rocks. The best mistake I've ever made!

We all went to supermarket to get food & drink for a BBQ. We all had a good chat & laugh & got to know each other better. I was in bed by 11.30pm as had to be up at 5am for my dolphin swim, therefore was not impressed when the other 3 blokes sharing the dorm came crashing in at about 1am!!

(18/12)

Despite the early morning disturbance, I did manage to wake up at 5am to a dark & wet morning.

Got kitted out in some fetching wet suit, flippers, mask & snorkel & we were taken to the narbour. There were about 40 people doing the swim in the morning & you have to normally book about 3 weeks in advance!!

Was on a boat with 12 others & after about 25mins we saw our first pod of about 100 dolphins. We all got intot he water (which was bloody freezing) & had a snorkel about. Within seconds there were dolphins swimming below & around me. Even had one about a foot in front of me just looking at me! Was in the water for about 20 mins looking for & seeing dolphins then back on boat for 5 mins while we found another pod. We had another 20 mins in the water with the 2nd pod. It was a truely awesome experience & a highlight of my travels.