We drove up the west coast and stopped at Hokitika for coffee and cakes before We began our trip across Aurthurs pass. We were taking the pass for a quick stop over at Christchurch, (bloody broken fridge!) luckily the pass was as beautiful as we had heard and we managed to camp in a fantastic spot along the pass. After our stop off at chirstchurch the fridge was back on form and we headed up to Hanmer Springs to try out the natural hot springs. We soaked for a few hours in springs that ranged form 26 degrees to 41! Shame about the egg smell because apart from that they were lovely (The smell was the sulphur not Shelly!). The next day we were feeling energetic and so headed out on a waterfall track, the only problem was that shelly still had a huge blister on the back of her foot from the glacier hike so had to complete the walk like a crippled pigeon with a mangled foot! Even though it was ridiculously steep the waterfall was awesome so after Rich had a quick shower we limped our way back down to the campervan!

The next destination on our travels was Kaikoura where we booked in to swim with wild dolphins! It was a ridiculously early start as we arrived at the boat shop at 5.30am! We were all kitted out in wetsuits and the rest of the gear we would need in our sleepy daze and headed for the boat. Once on board we headed out to sea for about 40 minutes where we spotted penguins, seals, albatross and best of all hundreds of dusky and common dolphins! We couldnt belive the site as about 300 dolphins surrounded the boat and we were given the ok to jump in! They literally surrounded us as we got in the water, jumping diving and circling as we tried our best to keep up. We were told to sing to them and they would respond by making noises and swimming around you, so as we were all squeeling our lungs as loud as we could we were delighted when the did infact start to circle and watch you as we sang! Once they were moving abit too quick for us to keep up we all jumped on the back of the boat feet dangling in the water while the boat wizzed us to the next spot to jump back in! It was absolutely fantastic and one of the best experiences ever, they were beautiful and alot more graceful that us in our big flippers! After the longest shower ever to try and warm up we began our next leg of the journey up north!