Kaikoura - Having a whale of a time

---

Kiora (NZ for hello). Took a slow but winding journey in the new van, power steering is a wonderous invention! Camping up at a fancy camp site for the first couple of nights, electirc hook up...so heat in the van (good job because it was -2C in the night), showers/laundry and got ourselves booked in for a complimentary hot tub (hopefully with views of the mountains surrounding) in the next half hour - beats british camp sites so far for plushness. Jon got given some NZ dollars to spend from work as a please-stay-there present and with this money we decided to go whale watching (Cheers guys !!!)

Got up bright & early this morning for a quick walk along the beach, which is about 2 minutes away (3rd photo) before setting out on our whale watch tour. The weather has been so poop for the past few days the boats have not been going out...but luck was on our side with calm seas and bright sunshine. Stepped aboard a very swish boat with its own whale finding sonar and in no time at all we pulled along side a sperm whale. The big fellas can hold their breath under water for a whole hour and when they pop up they hang around for about 10/15 minutes, so plenty of time for photo opportunities! Jacky was luck enough to see one of the whales breach the water (clear).... Jon was looking the other way, bugger. Had an amazing time and its the kind of thing that will probably sink in properly after a few days. Off for a star gazing evening (we've heard they have a southern aurora does anyone else know anything about this - please e-mail if you do) for some serious telescope staring so hopefully we should get some good shots from there... maybe even of the moon.

---

Photos

View from the van
Not bad scenery to wake up to ?

Whale watch !
A sperm whale about to leave the surface

Moutains to the sea
Snow capped mountains rolling into the sea, it doesn't get much better than this !