Kaikoura and beyond...

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So we arrive in the land of Kaikoura, our intention to find work for a month in this tourist town. We begin by going to a hostel called Dusky Lodge, where we can work in exchange for our accomodation. We initially sign up for a weeks work, and go out job hunting later that day. It rapidly becomes apparent that in order to get some sort of retail or catering job you need to stay for at least 3 months, and as we only plan on staying in the area for one month, we are unsuccessful. So along with been assured there are plenty of jobs, we also discover that now is not the right time or place for us. Kaikoura is a lovely place to visit, but over a month is just far too long in our opinon (especially in their Winter season).

We ended up staying just 5 days - long enough to see all the sights and do all the activities we wanted to - and then move on up to Blenheim or Picton to get some fruit picking work.

On our drive into Kaikoura we had seen adverts for Pilot-a-Plane, which Dan really wanted to do, so on one of the days we took a drive to the airport (a small field with 3 planes) to see if we could book it. Upon arrival, we were told that he could fly in 10 minutes, and that Julia could be a passenger too, for just an extra $30. So after a brief explanation of how to fly, Dan was in the cockpit, and even took off and landed the plane! Very scary stuff. It was great fun, although after some of the aerobatics we did feel a little sick for the rest of the day.

The other major activity we did whilst in Kaikoura was whale watching, which was also very fun. We managed to see five whales so we were pretty lucky. The best bit was when they spot one (from it blowing up water) and then go racing after it, as they are only on the surface for up to 12 minutes. The only down side of it was that the waves were very harsh on the journey over there, and we did feel a little sea sick, but with some fresh sea air we soon recovered.

Some of our other highlights from Kaikoura included seeing the seal colonies around the beaches, Dan eating the biggest burger in the world, the pub quiz that lasted over 4 hours, and getting lots of freebies from some German girls who were flying home.

Next stop was Blenheim...arrived there fairly late at night, so after a lovely meal in a steakhouse, we went to a campsite for the night. As there was noone in the office we just parked up for the night. This worked out pretty well for us, as after our showers and breakfast, we sneaked out again in the morning with noone noticing us. Free night. We had a walk around Blenheim town, it's a nice place, with lots of vineyards on the hills surrounding it, although a fairly small and quiet town centre. We decided to take a day trip to Picton, but when we got there we loved it, and planned on getting work there instead!

After a spot of job hunting in Picton, we were again unsuccessful, as the harvest does not begin for another few weeks, and machines are doing more of the work now anyway.

We woke one morning to a beautiful sunny day, and decided that it was perfect weather for a boating safari around Marlborough Sounds, with waterways (a lovely family run company). Had an awesome day out in our jet boat, the scenery was amazing, and our guide showed us some of the wildlife living in the Sounds. This included loads of different birds, stingrays, and jellyfish that dont sting. It was great as we were allowed to do whatever we wanted in the boats. This is definately the best day out that we have had so far in New Zealand, and if anyone is ever in the Marlborough region we would definately recommend this!

After all of this excitement, and a revised check of our funds, we have decided to travel all around the South island without working (or maybe a week or two, here and there if we can), and then settle in Wellington for a few months to boost the bank balance. Hopefully this will give us a better chance of finding work when we are there for a longer period.

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