Kaikoura
(Wednesday 29th June, Thursday 30th June, Friday 1st July)

Kaikoura is billed as the whale watching, dolphin swimming, crayfish eating hub of the east coast of the south island of New Zealand .... we were happy to pitch up here for a couple of nights! Luckily we have 'toursim radio' stuck to our windscreen of our campervan, along with cheesy 80's tunes it actually comes up with some good spots to stop at .... which is how we found out about the amazing fur seal pup waterfall on the coast road heading towards Kaikoura! Only in winter time do these pups work their way upstream from the beach to this waterfall pool where they spend all day playing in the currents and chilling on rocks while their parents fish for food! Luckily we saw them at their cutest! This was the high point of my day, fur seal pups are the cutest type of seal you can get ... the big, glassy black eyes and the only breed of seal that stand on all fours! We quite easily whiled away an hour or 2 here ... its amazing how they have different characters, just as we were leaving we stopped at the beginning of the stream and 2 little pups decided to jump out of the water and sniff us out .... very cute!!!

But the priority was to head in to the small town of Kaikoura for the dolphin swimming (life long dream of mine) and whale watching. Lovely small town with a gorgeous sea front, lots of crayfish to eat which is right up our street! Unfortunately the town was still awaiting an influx of tourists ... this is supposed to be their busy ski season but no snow yet apart from a sprinkling on the top of the mountain. Spent the evening at an irish pub, playing a pub quiz that the english bartender made up underneath a scottish celtic football flag .... we are definately trying to adapt to the new zealand culture??!!

Dolphin swimming and whale watching booked in for the next day with a nice early start - made the early start to be told that the water is too choppy! We woke to a gorgeous clear, sunny day but apprently the swell further out was too dangerous - we were really dissapointed, we don't have many days to play with so we decided not to waste the day and booked ourself in to the seal kayaking tour! This is ok as you paddle near the coastline, very enjoyable and followed by lunch at a roadside trailer serving the famous Kaikoura crayfish - best lunch yet! We decided to not waste any time and jumped in the van heading for our next stop a day early - the Franz Josef Glacier on the West Coast .... 8 hour drive. We were planning to stop half way but decided to continue through, a bit silly as it gets dark around 5.30pm and the scenery here is supposed to be spectacular. We thought if we make the drive, arrive at a Franz Josef campsite then we can make the full day climb to the Franz Josef Glacier the next day ......