Went to Kaikoura before heading to Nelson in the evening. In the Maori language Kai means food and Koura means crayfish. So you know it's good for its seafood! So I couldn't not try some fish and chips! Had lemon fish with chips on the beach. Nice! It was so warm with the sun so I was hoping it wouldn't be too cold when I got into the sea later on.

Got kitted out ready to swim with the dolphins. Had to wear a wetsuit along with a kind of wethat (I made that word up, it's like a wetsuit for the head). Along with socks, gloves, flippers, goggles and a snorkel. Had to put it all on and bring our clothes with us to change after swimming. Had a briefing before leaving explaining what to expect, etc. Of course dolphin sighting wasn't guaranteed nor was being able to swim with dolphins. So if we weren't able to do one or any of them we would get our money back.
Got into the bus which took us to the harbour where we got our boat. We had to travel for about an hour before spotting a huge group of dolphins. On the way we saw a couple of dolphins and many albatrosses too.
Once we spotted the huge group of dolphins we were able to get into the sea and swim. It was amazing! There were so many of them so wherever I looked I always saw a dolphin. They were under me, next to me and right in front of me. The best thing! Snorkelled for a long while, it wasn't too cold thankfully, but my feet were freezing though! Never thought I'd ever swim in the sea in winter!
Got on the boat again and travelled for a bit to another area where there were even more dolphins. So we snorkelled for a while and again they were everywhere. An amazing experience. So many people were getting in my way so it got a bit annoying at times especially when I had someone's flippers in my face lol!
Got out and had a quick hot shower. Yes, they had one on the boat! (a portable one) before getting changed into warm clothes. Had some hot chocolate which was lovely and warmed me up a bit. Managed to get some photos of dolphins too and many of them were showing off, jumping and stuff. It was great to see.
On the way back to the harbour the sea was rough and so many people were seasick, poor things!

Got picked up from the harbour and made our way to Nelson stopping at Ohau Stream where seal pups travel up the stream to the waterfall in winter.
There were so many seal pups who were so cute! It was dark so it was hard to take a decent photo. They kept coming up to us but we had to be careful not to provoke them in case they attack us as some people got a warning from the seal pups at some point!

It was a long journey to Nelson. So we watched a DVD some of the way, called We're the Millers which was funny. Miss watching films, didn't realise how much until after watching that DVD!

Checked in our hotel for the next two nights. Straight to bed as it's late. Can't wait for tomorrow, will be piloting a stunt plane! :D