Whales, whales and a bari pie!

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After driving along the Southern Coast and staking out in the rain for rare penguins, we got up super early the next morning and drove up to the whale watching famous town of Kaikoura.

We were told that its more common that the boat trip is cancelled because of the sea conditions. We were so lucky we had gorgeous sunny weather whilst we were there, and our whale watching trip went ahead. As if that wasn't lucky enough we were told that on average you see one whale on the trip which is good, we ended up seeing seven!! Not only that we saw seals, and a group of rare dolphins which played under our boat. Even after seeing just one whale up close we were thankful, never mid seeing seven. Even the guides seemed shocked and excited every time they said over the microphone that they could hear another whale and we were going to find it. Absolutely amazing experience. We headed to Kaikoura for the whales, but we didn't realise the coast around the town would be so stunning. Anybody thinking of going to NZ should definitely go to Kaikoura.

If whales aren't enough of an incentive to go we had possibly the best mince pie ever. It was pie with mashed potato on top of it, as part of the pie if that makes sense. Better than even a Marksys mince pie, and they are hard to beat. We sat eating the pies about 2 metres from loads of seals that were just chilling out on land in the sun.

After a great few days in beautiful Kaikoura it was time to drive to Christchurch and hand Lola back. Luckily we had another sunny day so the drive through the valleys, past vineyards, and sheep was really an enjoyable last drive. With it being basically autumn during our whole time in NZ the colours of the countryside we drove through were stunning, all the trees were oranges and reds, beautiful time of year to visit.

What we thought would be a relatively easy hand in process turned out to be a total nightmare. The office was in the centre of Christchurch, which was where the earthquake hit. So after managing to get near the office after detouring around all the blocked roads, we found a sign on the office door saying that they had moved premises since the earthquake. It then took us ages to find the new office, it wasn't the best end to our spaceship experience, but we would still thoroughly recommend a Spaceship campervan.

There was nothing to do in Christchurch. Since the earthquake nothing is open, and loads of the roads are closed. We went for an explore and virtually every way you turned there was a big metal fence blocking the access to the road due to the buildings being unsafe. It was sad to see the city in such a state. We stayed in the famous Jailhouse hostel which is what it says, an old jail that has been converted into a hostel. You sleep in the cells which is pretty cool.

On our second night in Christchurch we were woken by a 5.3 aftershock, the biggest aftershock they have had since the huge earthquake hit. Having never experienced an earthquake it was very surreal. We were in a bunk bed and the whole thing was shaking. Ash groggily shouted up to Tom 'was that a train passing by?' and he laughed and said no I think it was an earthquake, and we just went back to sleep. It was only the next morning that we realised how strong the shock had been. Nobody was hurt, and I think there was only a little bit more damage caused. The city still wants tourists to visit, and hopefully they will start to have less aftershocks. Having gone from earthquakes being relatively uncommon in Christchurch the locals are getting used to the fact that aftershocks are now a common part of their daily lives, which must make them feel very on edge a lot of the time. We were both glad we went there, and it was interesting but sad looking around.

After a couple of days in Christchurch we got a flight to Auckland and stayed in a motel near the airport. The next day South America was calling, and on we flew for the final continent of our long trip.

Lots of love T & A xx

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