Blogs from Kaikoura, South Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 44

Darlings we have had the best day - whales! just amazing - the boat was cool - although as predicted no bar - not big enough! Lovely crew, fast boat - and the sun was shining - it was warm. Just totally blown away by seeing whales, they are amazing creatures, we saw three different whales - all sperm whales. Just can’t get over how huge they are, massively heavy, and amazingly graceful as they dive down, it’s brilliant watching them prepare to dive, their heads are so heavy and they manouevre till they literally stand on their head! We got really close and was too mesmerised to panic! We were lucky ‘cos on the way back we saw loads of dolphins! and a huge albatross - who apparently weigh as much as an average dog ... read more

Here in Kaikoura I actually made contact with the most intelligent beings on the planet. Yes, I swam with dolphins. They must have thought we were bl**dy loopy though: dressed head to foot in black neoprene (I really cannot get enough of this stuff), including a hood - yet more practise for my James Bond girl role, plus snorkel, mask and flippers, we splashed around in the water trying to be as dolphin-like as possible and making strange noises through our snorkels. Apparently dolphins like it - they probably like having a jolly good laugh at our expense. One of the guys said all he could think of was to sing Kanye West's "Goldigga" through his snorkel. The dusky dolphins must have been Hip Hop/R n B or whatever fans, as it seemed to work. Kaikoura ... read more

On or way back to Picton we stayed a night in Kaikoura. This is the whale-watching capital of New Zealand. Altough the sparkeling sea mocked us for some time with fluke-like images far of in the distance, we didn't see a whale. So made some other stupid tourist stare out to the water by telling them where we had just seen the whale and left for the penguin- and seal-colony. Those animals are more reliable and usually can be expected to be there. Some tourists around the seals acted pretty annoying. They tried to pull at a sleeping seal's tail until he was awake, angry and nearly bit them. The seal should have chased them right into the water...... read more

How y’all doin? Kiss ma grits honey! Britney and Kev, step into the shadows and welcome the new breed of White Trash that’s just driven into town. Well, it’s only natural that we have to live the lifestyle now that we are moseying round NZ in our motorhome, living in trailer parks, sweetcakes! We’ve now had Beryl for almost a week and it’s actually been excellent so far. We feel like little snails with our home on our back as we meander our way across country, stopping off where we like, when we like, making a cup of tea at the side of the road - or even beans on toast if we’re feeling reckless and dangerous. The day we picked her up - we had to go find some basic necessities for Beryl - therefore ... read more

The Catlins So, after Robert (my German surf buddy) and I arranged to go to the Catlins over Christmas - 6 weeks later we finally pulled our fingers out and made the trip, dragging along a random assortment of companions for the jaunt. As I’m becoming accustomed (and in fact addicted to) I did very little planning, other than making sure that everyone had a tent & sleeping bag, and I’d got my wetsuit & board (and my new addition to the “can’t leave home without it” list - my cards & poker chips set). Without even looking at a map (I say that like the dorky teenager in my last blog - I’m practically giving myself two thumbs up in the mirror for being so cool - I am so living on the edge man) ... read more