Having a whale of a time...

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Wednesday 13th
So, a nice trip on the bus again, a short journey this time, stopping for a bacon and egg toasted sandwich, and to see the seal colony shortly before Kaikoura. Kaikoura is the place to swim with dolphins, go whale watching, or fly over whales. Also spotted a wine tasting place. Who knows, but today I fancy checking out the information centre, posting off yet another parcel (so I don't have to have it in my bag when I fly to Wellington on Friday), and going for a 3.5 hour walk round the coastal pathway. Picked up some leaflets, watched a video on what makes this area special (a deep canyon out at sea which is rich in plankton/plant life, etc. and therefore attracts many animals, and is deep enough for whales) - interesting and I fancy doing something but not sure what. There's swimming with seals, learning to catch your own crayfish/fish and eating it, plane & helicopter rides over whales, swimming with dolphins, etc. Ah well, will decide tomorrow. Went for my walk, took 3.5 hours with many stops to look at views/in rockpools, etc. Got back, had dinner, and settled down to read after a spot in the spa - quite warm!

Thursday 14th
Slept for hours - just feel so tired, so have brekkie and pick up my book planning to read a bit more, but end up reading it (only stopping for sandwiches) until 3.30pm, when it's finished. Bit dehydrated by this time, so go for water and end up talking to a Belgian girl in my room for an hour, then going to find out if there are any helicopter flights still going (there aren't - probably just as well, need to make the money stretch). Decide to head back into Kaikoura, find the Global Gossip cafe where I have done a few tasks - by no means all - and uploaded photos to Facebook, so "all" that is left is to go through my emails and see what I've not answered for months - but I'm hungry now (despite giving into a Cookie Time cookie - how awesome are they, along with Tip-Top icecreams), and it's about to shut (nearly 9pm), so go back for my veggie & bacon curry. Ate up, packed, scratched my many bites, and went to sleep on a diet of trashy magazines!

Friday 15th
Bus driver decided he couldn't be bothered to drive all the way round to my backpackers, and had told the others joining the bus to go to the information centre, but I didn't know, so was standing worrying I'd been left off the waybill again, when heard my name shouted as he'd climbed the hill to find me - phew!! Got on the bus, and was very excited to see Anne, from the Netherlands, who was on my surf-trip over Christmas. She has 2 weeks in the South Island with her mum! Bus wound around many coastal roads - beautiful, if a little windey! Got to our breakfast stop in the middle of nowhere, and decided to avoid the smell of breakfast to see if Erika was in - she was, had a good 15 minutes of chat before my card ran out in the middle of a sentence. Hadn't realised until before this call that it's 5.9 cents per minute from a PRIVATE phone, if from a payphone it's + 35c per minute - quite a bit more. Ah well, it was worth it - won't be able to use that card outside of NZ anyway! Other than that only stop was for a fur seal colony, before the bus dropped us at the tiny Picton airport... see Wellington blog for more...

On the bus to Picton tomorrow, then flying across to Wellington to stay with the Bardsleys til Monday morning, when it's off to Napier for my dive medical and to see all the Art Deco stuff!

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