Day 14. Thursday 20th November 2003
Christchurch - Kaikoura - Kaiteriteri

Left Christchurch early and headed for Kaikoura. Made it well in time for the whale watching trip I'd booked, so had coffee and something to eat in a nice little cafe. Looked around the shops and after checking-in went and sat on the stony beach to kill time. The ocean was very blue and was crashing quite hard on to the beach, quite a steep shelf in to the water.

We then boarded the boat and were amazed at how fast it manoeuvred. Everyone was really excited about being onboard and was very keen to spot things (there were some very pushy Russians on board). We didn't need to worry about not seeing anything because more or less as we pulled out we saw Orca (Killer Whales) in the bay area. Apparently they only make an appearance about twice a year and it was fantastic to see them. We saw three all together. Then we saw dusky dolphins and took loads of pictures. I couldn't believe what I was seeing and then to top it we saw whales—3 sperm whales. Firstly blowholes on the surface, and then diving down giving us a flash of their tails. The cameras did not stop going.

The crew use a sonar device in the water to hear where the whales are and as soon as they hear a sound race over to see them. They are good at managing the process, however, and only allow 3 vehicles near a whale at one time (that includes helicopters too). On board they showed us a film of just how deep the water is here, and the underwater canyon plummets to over 4,000 feet deep and that's why the whales hunt here.

On the way back into the harbour we saw a rare yellow eyed penguin sitting on the wall. "That's strange" said the guide, "you don't normally see them out of the water." "No wonder" said Jeff, "with all those killer whales around." (Orca will hunt these Penguins). We also saw Royal Albatross—they have up to an 8 foot wing span. I loved this trip and it was probably better than Milford Sound for me but Jeff was feeling very quesy and was glad to get off.

We then drove all the way to Kaiteriteri for kayaking the next day. We'd done 490km and it was dark by the time we got there so Jeff wasn't a happy camper by then. Amazed by the amount of stars, really clear views.