Hi Guys,

Had a lovely time in Kaikoura (11th-14th March) one of the best places I have visited so far probably because of the nature! I think I told you about it on my last page but cant remember. Its where the Mountains meet the ocean and they are magnificent especially when all the cloud gets caught up in them. Stunning place.

Met up with Marlin and our car...yay now we have more freedom and can explore more. Decided to book ourselves on for a Whale Watch trip and Dolphin Swimming, the Dolphin Swimming was full so we had to go on a waiting list. Manged to get on the afternoon Whale trip on the 12th which was great! We saw lots of Albatross and which was brilliant-they are huge and beautiful- feel sorry for them as all the species are now on the endangered list! The best bit has to be that we saw 4 Sperm Whales!!!!!!!!!!! aswell which was amazing, everyone on the boat was so quiet so you could here the Whale spouting water it was lovely! So nice to see them in the Wild, a first for me! It was amazing to watch them dive aswell got some good video footage will try and out it on here under the videos section soon!

On 13th we chilled out, weather wasnt great. went to the seal colony and the waves were crashing over the rocks..coo seas but was really foggy. In the afternoon we got a call to say someone had cancelled on the Dolphin Swim on the 5.30 slot...heck! So there was space for us, which we obviously leap at! So we woke up at 4.45am on the 14th and headed down to meet the crew it was still dark...thankgod for the car! Put on our wetsuits, which looked fab...NOT!

Headed out onto the boat after a short bus ride to South Bay. Was lovely being on the water at this time as we saw the sun come up. Albatross were flying over the ocean with the sun behind them...it was beatiful and so quiet!

After about half an hour the crew spotted a huge Pod of Dusky Dolphins, which are only found in the Southern Hemisphere by the way and they reckoned there was at least 400!!!! They were all leaping about and doing acrobats in the air, havent even seen it that good on tv it was a sight to see and that alone was worth the money and we knew we were in for a treat to get in the water with them!

Then it was time to get kitted up, put on our snorkels and flippers and head to the end of the boat. Getting in the water worried me slightly as we had to sit at the back of the boat with our feet in the water and then swim off at the sound of a siren LOL. Ah it was actually ok and luckily I have snorkelled before, couldnt breathe properly for the first couple of minutes as it takes some getting used to!

Then the most amazing sight began to unfold out of the blue...... loads of Dolphins swimming around you and below you and running cirlces around you. The interaction between you and them takes your breathe away I cant even describe how good it was. They are totally wild creatures that want to play with you and check you out they are really cute! It was the best thing and awesome thing to do....if you ever get the chance do it! They stayed with us for ages us and we managed to get in the water with them 3 times...brilliant!! Probably one of the best things I have ever done!

We drove to Nelson in the afternoon and is where we are now. Took the Queen Charlotte rd here instead of the main highway, gorgeous views of the Marlborough Sounds which is why we did it. Took 5 hrs to get here though..what a joke...stupid cyclists and people in campervans are so annoying on these windy roads!!! We are now camping to by the way, its so much cheaper than staying in hostels and its a different way to travel, We bought it from the Warehouse though, 'Where everyone gets a bargin' so the likelyhood it will survive torrential rain or heavy wind are slim...I personally dont hold out too much hope for it but Marlin is slighly more convinced it will be ok!!

Planning to walk a three day trek in the Abel Tasman National Park which will be awesome. Its beautiful there...white sands and turquiose seas...cant wait!! That will take us up to the 19th!

Hope your stioll enjoying the blog! Sorry this is a long story but thought Kaikoura and the wildlife deserved it.

Love Becs xxxx