Last day on South Island

---

After leaving Queenstown I had a beautiful night at Mt Cook. The sun was shining & the mountains were spectacular. We went for a walk up the Hooker valley to see the Hooker valley lake & the end of the glacier. From there we went to Rangitata where I went white water rafting. 2 boats overturned but luckily not mine so I decided to jump off a rock into the water. Thankfully it was sunny so I dried off quickly.

After that I spent 3 nights in Kaikoura, which was a wise choice because there was so much to do & I could enjoy the nice weather. The first day I went fishing with Gerry & Nick. I caught a blue cod & a few sea perch before we pulled up a few crayfish. It was not an activity that I expected to do in New Zealand but it was satisfying to eat fish that I had caught. Over the weekend I had a lot of crayfish salad & got the local fish & chip shop to batter my own fish, which was all delicious. On Saturday I went whale watching & saw a sperm whale twice & 2 pods of dusky dolphins, who had great fun jumping around our boat. There was also a nice walk along the peninsular to see the seal colony with lovely views along he coast. Now I am in Picton for 1 night before taking the ferry back to the North Island tomorrow.

---