1 hour and 40 minutes after leaving Blenheim we arrived in Kaikoura. The journey had been amazing, we stopped at a look out point and saw a seal colony on the rocks. There was a little pool that was sheltered from the crashing waves where all the baby seal pups were playing. It looked like a seal day care, where the mothers had dropped them off and gone fishing for lunch.
Once we arrived and set up camp we went into the town to work out what we wanted to do. We decided on sea kayaking for the next morning so booked our place and then went for a drive to another area where seals were often seen. Sure enough as we walked along the coast we saw a large fur seal. It was amazing to see one so close up and in the wild. A few tourists got a bit close and he swung round with his mouth open and they quickly backed away. Our guide the next day told us that you should stay 10-20m from a seal on land as they can bite your hand off and that their saliva is so full of bacteria that you could die from the infection!
That evening we swam in the pool at the campsite, made dinner on the BBQ, had a bottle of Pinot Gris and played cards. It was lovely and relaxed.
We arrived at the Kayaking centre at 8.30 the following morning and had to wait a while as some people in our group had turned up in jeans and doc martins and the kayaking guys had to run around finding them shorts and shoes. Finally we were off and got down to the shore where kayaking safely and instructions were given. We all tried attaching our kayak skirts and then practiced pulling them off, one older lady got a little freaked out as she couldn't do and it got really scared about going on the water in case she capsized. The instructors said 'You won't capsize, the water is really calm and no one had turned over this entire season, don't worry' reassured she decided to kayak but ironically you can guess what happened, about an hour in and a kayak went over, I looked around and realised it was her! Poor lady.
Kayaking on the sea was excellent. We saw seals and a little blue penguin. We missed out on a seeing a pod of dolphins who were in the bay while we were on kayaks but we were too far from them.
In the early evening I walking around our tent pitch just organising my bag when I stepped on a something sharp, as I lifted my foot the pain got worse and I looked down to see a bumble bee! I started jumping around in pain and managed to find tweezers and pull the sting out. I was rolling around on my back holding my foot! By the time Nathan got back from the shower my manic dancing around and shouting in pain had subsided and I was sitting calmly on the camping chair although my foot was still stinging!
Thursday was our big drive day of almost 8 hours to get down to Dunedin. The drive was beautiful as is everywhere it seems in New Zealand. The radio even decided for work for the first time which was a real treat.
We stopped off at Moeraki boulders to see the bizarre naturally formed rocks on the sand.
After pitching our tent in Dunedin we walked to the coast to watch the day turn into night. It was beautiful watching the little birds run in and out with the tide watching what the sea was going to bring them for dinner.
Friday morning I woke up and I was cold, I could tell from inside the tent that outside was damp and grey! However what could have been a not great day turned into us having so much fun. We drove into the city centre and went for a walk but the heavens opened so we darted into Starbucks (a massive treat) and put a plan together for the rest of the day.
We walked around the main city centre once the rain had stopped, and it felt like someone had transported me to Scotland in my sleep as their were Scottish shops everywhere, a statue of Robert Burns and buildings that reminded me of Edinburgh (which Alison had also mentioned before we arrived).
Next stop was the outdoor salt water swimming pool on the coast. It was a proper swimming pool with lane markings and people going up and down exercising. I've been helping Nathan with his technique and he has got a lot better and a lot faster especially since we purchased some goggles too.
It's funny but swimming has always been a part of my life since as long as I can remember. Starting with mum teaching us and then going to swimming lessons which progressed to being part of a squad until I was 14. At home I swim at least once a week and probably my time in South America was the longest of my life without a pool. It's so familiar to me and swimming with my head under the water in the salt water pool looking at the markings on the floor I could have been back home in Romford, it was familiar and comfortable.
Getting out however was freezing as the pool was heated to 28 degrees and the outside temperature was 10 degrees with a strong wind!
Our next stop was to drive to Sandfly Bay on the Otago Peninsula. We parked the car and hiked 40 minutes down some step sand hills to the deserted beach. Only on the beach it was about a 15 minute walk to the end where you had to climb up a small hill to 'the hide' where we then watched for penguins and seals to come onto the shore.
Tourists are given strict instructions in many languages on boards along the hike that they should go to 'the hide' and not walk to the rocks as the penguins will not come ashore if they see us. Unfortunately for us a group of people decided to ignore this instruction and when a penguin came ashore they were right over to the rocks and started clambering all over them to get a photo next to the penguin. This therefore meant no others came ashore. We did manage to see one yellow eyed penguin and some seals.
Then came the walk back, wow I found the sand hill hard because as I started to climb you would start to slide backwards, I definitely got a leg workout. Also it was so insanely windy on the beach this is what it has done to the sand.
Our last activity was the drive to the very end of the Otago Peninsula and visit the Royal Albatross museum. It was really good and lots of information about penguins and seals as well as the Royal Albatross. They were massive flying above us.
By 9pm it was so cold we were in our sleeping bags and with many layers on, reading our books! Probably not the rock and roll Friday nights you would imagine on our year travelling but it was a great day.