---

We drove from Christchurch in the moring towards Kaikoura and Picton. Kaikoura has lots of ocean tours including Swimming with Dolphins and Seal and Albatross viewing. (Monty Python warning....ALBATROSS!) We took an afternoon tour to look at the Albatross. Kaikoura is one of the few places you can see Albatross so close to land. There is a very deep sea trench close to Kaikoura and at night there are lots of squid and other animals that the albatross eat close to the waters surface.

We saw lots of birds and animals on the tour. The birds we saw include Wandering, Black-browed and Salvins Albatross, Petrels, Shearwaters, Shags, Terns, Gulls, a Gannet and a couple of Reef Herons that looked to be setting up a nest.

We also saw some New Zealand fur seals and a pod of dolphins. We were not supposed to see the dolphins--that's another tour :). The dolphins came right up to the boat and even raced through the bow waves at one point as we were driving off. It was really neat. The seals were pretty sleepy but we did see a very young baby and a couple of big males fighting.

We are heading to Picton tonight and then heading out on the ferry to Wellington tomorrow.

---