Arrived last night after a long drive from Methven, and woke up this morning to blue skies, warm air and snowy peaks descending into a shimmering sea. Knockout view. Something inside (so strong...song by Labi Siffre...anyway I digress) told me that Kaikoura would be chilled out and laid back, and that's exactly what this place is. Sleepy as anything and easy going. We thought we'd make like a donkey's fella and hit the road, but decided to do the touristy whale-watching cruise thing before leaving. The guide on the boat was all "if we see 1 or 2 we'll be doing really well" - in reality, we saw 5 sperm whales, 4 fur seals jumping out of the water alongside the boat as we raced towards another tail-photo, and numerous wandering albatrosses (albatri?). All this with the backdrop of mountains and ocean - words can't even begin to get close to the power of this nature. I was totally gobsmacked when Tono (you could tell it was him apparently because of the white mark on his massive tail) popped his gargantuan head out of the water and took a peak at us perched atop our boat. Took about a billion photos, none of which I can download on this machine for some reason so you'll have to wait. What a trip. Next stop - Blenheim for a wine tour. You get a bike, a map of the vineyards and a mobile in case you get too leathered to ride back and need picking up. Should be interesting. Then it's the North Island. As soon as I find a computer that doesn't run on fossil fuel I'll upload photos. Laters gang, luv C.