Bonjour tout le monde! Ok well im now in Nelson and so far have been having a great time! After Christchurch we headed north to Kaikoura where the dolphins, whales, seals etc are. We got up at 4am to swim with the dolphions and it was an amazing experience - something ive wanted to do since the age of 7 when i first went to sea world so 16yrs later my dream came true - almost cried!! (over emotional idiot i am!) But it was really cool as they were all swimming around me and we got to play with them by spinning around and they copied us! We had to get out the water about 1hr or so later - wish i was that 7yr old again as a kicking and screaming tantrum would have been acceptable but not from a 23 yr old - so i had to be a good girl and get out of the water and leave the dolphins behind - sob sob!! Anyway, that day we headed to Picton where some got off the bus to go over to wellington and we carried on to Nelson - gateway to Abel Tasman National park. So after a night in nelson - i stayed on while the bus carried on to westport. We instead went to Abel Tasman national park to kaiteriteri (food, rush, rush in maori) to do some kayaking! Had an awesome day kayaking, the guide was totally nuts but a great laugh. We stopped at a secluded beach for lunch, swim and a bit of a sunbathe before heading further out to sea to catch the wind to sail back. All 4 kayaks held onto each other and we held up a sail so the wind carried us back towards the split apple (big rock split in 2) then we paddled the rest of the way back. My arms killed after wards like anything - but it was a great workout! The scenery was beautiful so took some great photos! The hostel we are stayin in (prince albert) is really nice so have had some great nights sleep! Have one more day here in nelson so im just chilling out before starting the trip down the west coast - lonely planet had rated it number 2 drive in the world so it should be pretty spectacular! Ill update again soon! love nikki xx