Kaikoura

We woke up really early in Christchurch absolutely pumped to spend the day in Kaikoura, whale watching central. Although we were sad Mangee had gone, we were pleasantly surprised to see Arius, our previous driver from the North Island was our driver again. Although some people weren't quite awake enough for the reunion yet.

With our tiny group of friends left, we boarded the bus ready to go. After Kaikoura, the kiwi bus heads back up to Auckland to complete the circle. The stops along the way are places like Taupo, and Roturua, places we had already visited.
 Due to this, most of us booked flights from Christchurch airport to go back to Auckland to catch our flights to wherever next. This meant we had to make our own way back to Christchurch as the Kiwi bus would go onwards and upwards as it only drives one way only.

Despite the extra cost and effort, ourselves along with Mark, Archie, Amy and Andy were so excited to see Kaikoura.

We took a little breakfast stop along the way and caught up with Arius.

When we arrived in Kaikoura the weather was bright and Arius took us to a great view point of the place. It was really sunny, perfect for a whale watching tour!









We were dropped at our accommodation which was called the lazy shag (lol) and we walked down to the centre to book in for our tour that afternoon.

Archie and Andy decided to brave the freezing cold water and do the swimming with dolphins activity, whereas ourselves and Mark and Amy wanted to stay out of the water, and on the surface to spot some sperm whales.

We boarded the boat and instantly saw a plethora of wildlife. We saw a seal just rolling around in the water playfully, whilst an albatross landed just nearby. Further along we caught sight of a blue shark skimming near the surface! We hoped the seal was keeping watch whilst playing!

We talked to the whale spotters on board about the best technique to spot a whale. They said to keep your eyes on the horizon and looks out for spurts of water. At that moment, Tom pointed and said "a bit like that?"

Tom surely had spotted a whale and we sped over to the area just in time to catch it breach and lift its amazing tail.

After a few goes of chasing whales and catching the almighty tail splash, it was time to head back. As we went back, we went through a huge pod of dolphins that were swimming right up to the boat. At that moment a few seals turned up to fish whilst albatross fought over them too. We literally didn't know where to look and it was amazing!

That evening feeling pretty worn out from all the excitement, we had a lazy super noodle dinner with a gourmet twist. We sat and drank wine and played card games and jenga. The next day we would finally be leaving the kiwi bus, and with that a few friends :( Amy had booked a bus to take her back to Christchurch that morning.

The following day we jumped on the kiwi bus for the last time, and Arius took us with the group to the seal colony down on the edge of the town. Be warned we took LOADS of pictures.

Steph taking a 'sealfie'

We spent a while here until the bus had to leave to its next stop. Amy would get on the bus to drop her at the hostel to pack her bag to catch her bus. It was a bit rushed and she was hurried off onto the bus and we were left just Archie Mark and us. We spent a while longer at the seal colony and walked around to see the sights.

Feeling glum we walked the long journey back to the hostel. We realised if we ran we could maybe catch Amy at the bus stop to give her a proper goodbye. We legged it through the town and sure enough saw her standing there a little teary eyed waiting for her bus. We were so happy to see her off properly, and we gave her the last 'Love' pose she wanted for her New Zealand collection.

After sending her off, we went back to the hostel and pondered what to do. There was a funny little dog there so we played with him, and Adam and Jo some other friends we'd made along the way arrived on the next bus and spent the evening watching films with us.

The next day they also left and would take our beloved Archie with them! Luckily for them they were on Mangees bus again so there journey back North would be a good one.

Saying goodbye to Archie was another hard one, as the crazy little guy had become like a little brother to us, and sending him on the bus was an emotional ordeal for us all.

We spent the day in the hostel playing games until we had to catch our late night bus back to Christchurch. This time we stayed in the YHA, and watched strange vampire and cheer leading films. 

The next day we caught an early morning flight back up to Auckland, our third and final time there.