Our Stray bus is divided in three groups for the Heli Ice Explorer that we all signed up for today. We are expected in the office at 8h00 in the morning to sign the usual documents and get safety instructions for our morning trip to the glacier. Once we are all dressed up nicely in our ice ice baby blue jackets and boots - armed with our crampons in a small red shoulder bag -we get into different helicopters and start our scenic trip to the glacier. We have an ...

Sam quitely leaves the house at 4h00 giving me another 30 minutes to snooze before I have to get up myself. As our B&B Brook's house is about 3.5 kilometres from the Dolphin Encounter, our host Judy is getting up at the same time to give me a ride which is much appreciated of course ;-). 5h15 and i am ready to put on the tight wetsuit once more and watch another safety video: slight swell of the sea today so beware of seasickness is the morning message. ...

A nice sleep in today before we ask our hosts to arrange some bikes for us. Armed with a Marlborough Wine Trail map, we head off to our first and most famous winery of the day: Cloudy Bay. A stunning setting with some nice relaxing chairs which we make good use of, however the wine tasting itself is a bit of a disappointment to both of us... Oh well, off to the next one in that case: Allan Scott's family seems to be a pleasant surprise! Cycling down the same road...

After a confi night sleep, Sam and I make our way to dolphin encounter Kaikoura and we are excited to hear that sea conditions are improving. After a cafe breakfast on site, we done our wetsuits and watch the safety video that only builds our excitement. After a quick busride, we board a small vessel that is still on dry land! It slips gracefully into the water behind the tractor and we are off! Sadly, over the next two and a half hour, we see only a few scared d...