Seaside and Whale-Watching

Beach at Kaikoura at 6.30am!
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So we bumped around in the back of the campervan for what seemed like days until we arrived at Kaikoura...there were people...are cafes and BARS!!! Me and Holly were seriously impressed.

So we mooch down and book to go whale watching in the morning...due to mum and Hol's annoying sea-sickness, we decide to go first thing in the morning, which means being up at 6.30am, lovely!!  So we wake up, go and its fantastic!! Really cold, bollock freezing off time (if i had them) and it takes a while...but then we see two sperm whales!Amazing! Admittedly they dnt do much...just sort of sprawl on the surface of the water like a fat person on a couch and spray water/mist out of their blow hole but they are so cool, its amazing how big they are but yet how close the boat managed to get near to them without them swimming away.  The best bit was when they had enough oxygen though and they dived down...you get about a 2 second warning and then they dive to get that beautiful, iconic photo/view of the tail in the air..managed to get a great photo too, very impressed with myself!

Whales are very big and dolphins very funny

Whale blowing air/steam
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After being frozen for nearly 2 hours or so, the boat began to get back to the harbour, when we had the added bonus of spotting like a million dusky dolphins...they were jumping and swimming and showing off but they were practically as cool as the whales, even though much much smaller since there were so so many of them and they were moving much more! Holly nearly wet her pants she liked them that much, so on the whole i think the whale watching trip was a success.

After the morning of fun the parents went off and did boring parenty things (i think it was walking) whilst me and holly sunburnt to a crisp and read by the side of a pool.  On the night we went out for a meal at a lovely place whoses name i cannot remember but i had mussels and they were very very good!

Whale tail
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Next day, going white water rafting (can you tell i'm excited/nervous?!)