Kaikoura and Blenheim

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We arrived at Kaikoura at around 3pm, 8 hours of travelling and waiting around, we were all hanging, but still went for a little walk down the towns street, it was a small town and only took 10 mins to get from one end to the other so we went for a pint to kill some time! We only had one fall day in Kaikoura and the main reason me and Tracey wanted to go there was because its the best place in NZ to swim with dolphins, so we booked to do that the following day, 24th Jan. We had to be at the place by 12pm to get suited up and briefed on what to expect, we went out on the boat, the weather again was letting us down, the water was really choppy and again I spent most of the trip on the back of the boat laid out! We saw a small pod of dolphins but because of the weather conditions we were not allowed to go in! Twice now we have tired to swim with dolphins and twice we haven’t been able too! Both me and Tracey were really disappointed but we did get a full refund! To cheer our selves up the local pub we went too were having a special on a steak dinner, we decided to treat ourselves, it was amazing, for $14 (£7) we had steak, chips, salad and mushroom sauce, was so good, a really good piece of steak! We also had 2 bottles of wine, we were then trying to decided whether to get another steak dinner or to get the crème brulee! We decided to get the crème brulee but was disappointed as its not the same as back home, we should of got another steak!!!
The following day, 25th Jan 11, we left at around 9am to go to Blenheim. We stopped off on the way at a small waterfall which is known to have seal pups there, unfortunately we didn’t see any there but it was a nice waterfall al the same. We arrived in Blenheim and had to walk about 15 minutes from the bus station to the hostel we had booked. We didn’t really do much else on this day, we had a walk around the town and then in the evening Mark and Wendy cam around the hostel for a few drinks, they are staying in Blenheim working on a vineyard.
The following day again we didn’t do much, just wondering around the town and arranging for a wine tour the following day. The next day we got up and got ready for the wine tour, we got picked up by the company and they asked what vineyards we wanted to go to or what we wanted to see, we asked to go to the Cloudy Bay vineyard and the brewery. So the first stop we went to was the Cloudy Bay Vineyard, then to Allan Scotts Vineyard, then to Framingtons, then we went to The Vines Village, which had a few different little stores like a fudge shop, olive oil shop, gift stop, a distillery where we got to taste lots of schnapps and vodka and also the Bouldevines vineyard where I bought 2 bottles of wine, then we went to the Brewery where we tried different larges, beers and ciders, then we went to a chocolate factory, but was only allowed to try 2 small pieces which sucked! Was a really good day though. That night we went out to a bar in town with Mark, Matt and Ella, Matt and Ella had come to Blenheim that day because they had been offered work on the same vineyard as Mark and Wendy.

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