Norfolk Pine Motel Kaikoura

... they are the type that are buoyant and we aren’t going to have to worry about treading water! So we put our wetsuits on, boarded the bus and drove about 10min along the coast to the boats. We went out on the Pacific and in about 15minutes we came upon about a hundred + dusky dolphins. It was awesome to see them in their natural environment. And this company doesn’t do anything ...

... noises etc, won’t start it wouldn’t start because the key, the stupid key now would not turn in the ignition. I knew there had to be a reason but what it was a could not fathom.
Eventually I to had to go in and asked the lady in the office, she was kind and we fingered out the steering lock was on so you had to waggle the wheel whilst turning the key. I am again struck by the question, WHY? WHY WOULD YOU NEED TO DO THAT?
The rest of ...

... coast. This is what allows for such great whale viewing, but I would later find out it is also why it is one of the premiere surf communities of the south island. It was flat while I was there, but it is hard to get pumped for 56 degree water anyway. The seal colony located right by the town center was really cool. It was nice to see them naturally laying right by the parking lot and the view ...

... 20km north to the Otto/MacDonalds DOC site. We picked an open area in the carpark near the river and parked two wagon close for wind protection. This turned out to be another excellent camper site. We held round two for cocktail "hour" and the midgies weren't invited. We only had a couple of random winged gatecrashers and partied well into the night. The rain held off for the night and it would have been memorable if I could remember it through the Bourbon & Tequila haze.  Sorry ...

... was, and wishes us farewell, telling us to bypass ayer's rock for now - despite it only be a stone's throw away - in favour of getting to alice springs asap to get our van mended properly! and so we're off, and making our way for the first of three drives along the long road up to alice springs, now passing the turn-off to ayer's rock, having to completely ignore it, in favour of stopping only for the toilet at the erldunda roadhouse, where we bump into a couple of 'wicked ...

... was piled on top of the cases and on the walls, the people working in the shop were old ladies with frilly aprons and they were handing out samples of fudge. It was so fun. The boys had a great time trying different kinds of fudge.  We took the tram to the stop closest to our apartment and walked home. The predicted rain held off all day during our tour until the middle of our tram ride, but I think that we all still had a good day. -Merina

Day 43 Friday 13th February - Wellington to Christchurch Woke up at about 7am but then went back to sleep, then got up again at about 9:30am and jumped in the shower. We had some cereal and then set off to the airport as we were going over to the south island of New Zealand as Kelly said it was a good place to go out. It was only a 40 min flight to Christchurch and by the time we'd had the "in ...

... very old English look and were indeed a couple of hundred years old. The art galleries were recent additions to the city and featured some very interesting Maori and Modern art. I really liked the Botanical Gardens as it was a very large park with ample room for some Frisbee. Other than our really awesome Frisbee session, we had a nice walk around the ...

... s created behind the boat, angling their fins and letting the waves carry them with only a fraction of the usual effort.

It was really cool to see them catching a free ride behind our boat and launching themselves ...

... liet het board los met mijn handen en maakte dus een mooie duik...
Zo'n vijf keer het surfboard op mijn kop gehad, nog een paar keer bijna verdronken, maar man, wat is surfen awesome! Sweet as, man!!

Heb me voorgenomen om, als ik straks weer wat hoger zit, weer een board en een wetsuit te gaan huren en te oefenen. De Coromandel en ook het Northland schijnen enorm goede surfstranden te hebben en vergeet vooral ...