Christchurch to Kaikoura

Hey, well as you can see I found some Australia photos on my camera so I have added them to my last 2 posts. I have also added in a few more details since the first time it was posted so if you have time you may want to have a quick scan through if you have time.

Also before I speak about NZ, good luck to everyone who has sat or away to sit exams. I'm thinking of you all..............and glad it's not me!! ;) Good luck, I'm sure you will all do great though.

Well I arrived in Christchurch on Sunday 22nd April and stayed at the Central YHA which was a lovely little hostel with lots of comfy sofas to laze around on! :) On the Monday I went for a wander around town. First of all I climbed the cathedral spire and got a view of Cathedral Square from above:

I then wandered around some of the streets and made a visit to the lovely Botanical Gardens:

After spending some time in the gardens I went to Fudge Cottage to get a tour of the kitchens. Here we got to taste 9 out of their 17 flavours of fudge. We also saw them make a 30kg batch of fudge! At the end we went up to their shop and were given a free little gift of fudge - yum yum!

We then went back to the Fudge Cottage shop where we were given yet more fudge to take away. I then met up with James, my Melbourne party partner, who had just got off the Kiwi Experience bus having completed the South Island. We went out for tea and he recommended a number of activities to me. I then had a quiet night in the hostel and tried to plan where I was going to go in NZ.

On Tuesday I went to the Crusaders Rugby grounds with Emma, an Irish girl I was sharing a room with. Once back in town I booked my Kiwi Experience tour to leave from Christchurch on Wednesday morning to go to Kaikoura. In the afternoon we just wandered around town and then in the evening we went out for drink with Ali who was also in our room.

On Wednesday morning the Kiwi bus never came to pick me up. When we called them they said I was booked on Tuesdays bus not Wednesdays bus. How I can get booked onto a bus that left the city 4 hours before I booked my ticket I do not know! Anyway I ended up jumping on the competitor, Stray, bus for the day. They took me up to Kaikoura and organised for me to go for a swim with dolphins that afternoon. It was fantastic. We were probably swimming with them for about 45mins-1 hour. There were about 150 dusky dolphins there that day. They were doing many amazing jumps out of the water and when I was swimming with them, many of them circled around me. It was so much fun. Cheers James for recommending it. Here are some photos of the dolphins I was swimming with.

That evening I met another Scottish lass, Steph, and and Irish guy, Tony. We watched some films in the hostel that night. Anybody looking for accommodation in Kaikoura, I recommend Dusky Lodge. It is great and if the weather isn't good it has a big video selection!

On Thursday Steph and I went for a walk along the beach. The beach here does not have sand, just loads of stones. We did find some lovely shaped stones though. I then went for a walk along the coast and stopped in past a sheep shearing demonstration to pass the time.

On Friday morning I caught the Kiwi bus to head to Nelson. More on this next time as I need my diary to remind me of what we all did that day! Lots more news to come though.

Hope you are all enjoying the sunny weather back home.

Congratulations Laura on becoming a gymnastics judge! Well done. Good luck in your standard grades next week.

xxx