* Murphy's Law as it applies to Wilderness Sightings

So, it has been determined that I am no longer allowed to make reservations for wildlife trips. I'm lucky Terry and Rachel are still willing to let me come on them. I am afflicted by Murphy's Law with anything of the sort, and he pulled through again. Earlier in the trip we attempted to swim with dolphins but were told that the dolphins had left the bay we were going to. Then, yesterday we went on a whale watching tour. We stayed out on swells that were a meter and a half to two meters high for almost two hours without seeing anything. In the meantime, half the boat got seasick. It wasn't just waves, but also choppy. Finally we were at our time limit and were about five minutes headed back to shore when the boat turned around suddenly. The other boat for the company had a whale pop up right next to them, so we went back to try to get a view. We did get back to see the whale on the surface for a bit. He's a regular whale there, a sperm whale named Little Nick due to the nick in his fin; not his size. After we watched him for a couple minutes (Terry's feet got soaked as a wave came over the side of the boat; Rachel and I were on the upper deck), he raised his fluke and dove down again. Did you know that whales can stay underwater for over two hours, even though they breathe oxygen like us? The average length of time is only about 45 minutes. As we were leaving Little Nick, another whale dove near us. We only got to see the fluke, but it was pretty amazing as well. Especially knowing that they are completely wild.

So that was Thursday in Kaikoura. That was after we drove from Dunedin to Kaikoura on Wednesday. Apparently this is New Zealand's rainy season. The only day it really was rainy for us was on Wednesday, which we had set aside as a driving day. We started Wednesday morning by attempting to visit an Albatross sanctuary, but all the Albatross were offshore for breeding season, and there was no guarantee of seeing one. Then we toured Larnach Castle, the only castle in New Zealand. It was an enjoyable self-tour. They gave us a lot of the history of the original family and also the current owners. We then started our 8-hour journey up to Kaikoura, with a brief stop at the, umm..., some rocks that have quartzite in them. (I think. Otherwise Terry will come after me and edit this. =0)

Our whale watch tour was Thursday morning, and a good thing we booked the morning tour. By the time we got back, they had cancelled all afternoon tours. We spent a liesurely early afternoon in Kaikoura, had lunch, did some shopping, and stopped at a seal colony. We were seriously within meters of seals. Although I believe they are actually sea lions. After that we journeyed northwest to Nelson, the gateway to Tasman Abel National Park. This morning we slept in and then drove up to Manarau. We then cruised for three hours on a water taxi, seeing the shoreline. Again, absolutely breathtaking, as was Kaikoura. The water in both places is amazingly clear! And we have mountains, or at least large hills, right by the seashore. Tomorrow I'm hoping to kayak some of that shoreline.

We have a campsite for the night and will be meeting up with the other group for dinner shortly. Terry and I also went for a short, brisk swim in the ocean, since we are on the north end of the south island. It is frigid!

That's the news from the CamperVan. I hope you are all doing well!

Serena, Rachel, and Terry