Hi all,

Well after a long drive and another night in the back of beyond we finally arrived in Kaikoura. Kaikoura is a small town which was an old whaling station. It had stunning scenery and a real sea side town feel. We explored town which took all of about 10 minutes we then started to go on a shower hunt. After a few enquiries we made the executive decision to pay and use a backpackers facilities for the whole day. It was just like the hotel out of the Shining - scary, but it just had so much character.

It is so strange but without anywhere to go, other than the van for three weeks, it was so nice to have proper kitchen facilities and a lounge to sit in with a dvd player and loads of dvd's available. We ended up watching four movies - it was fantastic....!

The following day it was time to go whale watching. We reported to the centre and were whisked away to the pier to jump on the specifically designed whale watching Catamaran. The ocean had a two metre swell but fortunately for me, I had my sea legs on that day. It wasn't long before we were at the site were we stopped the engines and waited for the whale to surface, refuel and then drive again.

A lady on our boat screamed out and in the yonda, I could now see the whale blowing water from its blow hole on the surface. The captain started the engines and we made our way closer to this Sperm whale. We are legally allowed 50m away from the whale and that is what we did. It was big...! This particlar one was 17m long.

Geek bit - The Sperm whale is a record holder in a couple of catergories. It has the record for having the biggest head in the world and also the biggest brain. It also has the record for the deepest dive ever and holding its breath for the longest period of time. I have more facts about this amazing animal but I don't want to bore you any more...!

Afters a good while on the surface filling its lungs with oxygen and other bodily functions it then dived. Wow - it happens in slow motion and really graceful. Once it had gone we started the engines again and whipped off to the next place to try and spot our second whale.

This one was a biggie at 20m long and again it was superb to watch this aminal and see its shear size with the snow capped mountains in the background. Even from 50m away it was ginormous. What an experience, I would recommend it to everone.

On the way back to shore after two hours out at sea we came across a pod of 200 - 250 Dusty dolphins. They were fantastic and just playing around like dolphins do. I've never seem so many dolphins in my life, they were just everwhere. They were jumping, sumersaulting, slapping the water with their tails. It was the perfect way to finish off the trip.

Time just for another shower and a movie before heading off to Picton and the ferry to Wellington in the North Island.

Bye for now

Miffy x x x