From Nelson we drove to Blenheim and stayed the night before moving onto Kaikoura. Not much to report on the agricultural town that is Blenheim in all honesty, apart from the black sandy beach.
Kaikoura on the other hand is known for being a wildlife magnet with whales, dolphins, fur seals and apparently penguins too! As a result we booked with one of the big operators onto a 6.45am trip with Whale Watch Kaikoura. It was a miserable morning with lots of rain but the trip went ahead regardless. They kept telling us over and over again about sea sickness and whilst we thought it might be a bit choppy, it was in fact pretty horrific. Even those who didn’t know they suffered from it were unwell! Despite all of this we did after a few hours on the water get to see a Sperm Whale surface. They are humungous measuring on average twelve meters (the length of the boat) and weighing roughly 15,000kg! They spend 45 minutes upwards under water and only surface to replenish their oxygen supplies, so I guess we were pretty lucky to spot one!
We also stopped at a seal colony and took a snap or two! Overall we agreed how amazing it is to see these things in real life and not on an Attenborough documentary!
Our final stop in Kaikoura was a beautiful lavender farm! The whole place smelt delicious but it was a little too close to home for Dean who hated the bees buzzing round us!
The Snow Adventures 