We woke up early and continued our drive across the country and to the Hanmer Springs. Hanmer Springs is known for its thermal pools and is rated highly in the Lonely Planet, so figured we best make a stop here.

The pools are all open air with some heated as much as 42°C. It was lovely having a relaxing afternoon, they even had a full sized swimming pool which no-one was using. This meant while everyone was having serious relaxation, Sarah was being thrown around the pool by Tom - much to the dismay of the lifeguard.

After our chill out we hit the road and headed towards Kaikoura, a little town known for whale watching.

Our first day we spent just wandering around the town. We made sure we had some fish and chips on the seafront and caught up on some odd jobs. The second day was what we were both waiting for. Going whale watching!

We got up nice and early and made our way down to the front. After a safety briefing we boarded our boat and headed out to sea. The boat is equipped with a sonar device so we were able to track whales that were in the area.

After about ten minutes of searching we found our whale. It was a sperm whale which was due to come to the surface for air within the next ten minutes. Everyone on the boat was stood, eyes pealed waiting for the whale to surface. It was so fantastic when we finally saw it. The boat followed along side the whale, giving us all an amazing view of it. They really are amazing animals to watch.

After our whale encounter we headed off in search of some other marine life. The first thing we saw were little blue penguins which are the worlds rarest penguins. We were lucky enough to have one swimming in front of the boat as we sped along. During our time we also saw more albatross and fur seals which were jumping around in the water like dolphins.

Our final encounter was with the dolphins. We were able to see two types - hector (again, the worlds rarest dolphin) and dusky dolphins. They were so happy swimming along with us and playing around. None of us wanted to leave but unfortunately time was up so we had to head back to shore.

Kaikoura has definitely been the top highlight of New Zealand so far. Getting a chance to see all that wildlife up close was an amazing experience. We got off the boat wanted to book straight on to the next one but unfortunately time is against us. Our next stop is Blenheim in wine tasting county before heading over to the north island.