Kaikoura Day 2 and Wellington

Hi all! Received lots of msgs on the lines that we should change our site name to weareREALLYlostsomewhereinnewzealand.blogspot.com. So a biggggg sorrrrry for the late post. The good news is that we will be up to date from now on, the bad news is that, well, we're not 'really' lost here!

Kaikoura day 2

So Kaikoura day 2 was as eventful as it was bizarre. For a start we had to wake up at 6am to catch a 6:45am boat to go whale spotting. Unfortunately the whales thought it was a bit too cold to surface (or were just being plain lazy) and preferred to let us sit through the stomach-churning, face-colouring process of just the worst sail of my life whilst enjoying this macabre scene from below. According to James there were a good 2% on the boat enjoying people-getting sick spotting, however I was too busy being sick myself to be entertained with such sightings.(edit James: I surfaced briefly from my sick bag to notice that.. but very, very briefly!!) I content myself that I was the subject of attention for some brief moments today! But this is nature, and whilst we were all annoyed that whales didn't decide to rise a few 100m to surface and instead cost the company thousands in refunds (ten points for the whale!), we can't wait till the next opportunity to go out and see these truly splendid creatures.

From then on the day was just great and relaxed. We had the opportunity to taste this marvellous bbqed crayfish with mussels and prawn patty on the side. Delicious. On the way up from Kaikoura we stopped and encountered a seal colony with the baby seals and all. We then had a long drive up to Picton for the ferry to Wellington. A splendid drive complemented with an easy transition across the straits.

Wellington


Ahhh civilization. A house, family, pet cats etc.! Forgot what it's all about. And a truly lovely welcome. Meeting up with family in New Zealand and catching up in a land so far away from home was the best way to end the day! We all talked late into the night and just collapsed in time for an early rise where we were toured around the whole of Wellington which is an absolutely stunnnning place to live in! Lovely beaches, scenerey, thousands of inlets and a buzzing city centre. We had a lunch by the coast (see pic) and spent the rest of the day just talking and driving more around Wellington. Of note was the national museum 'Te Papa' which, unlike many other museums, was very interesting and interactive (similar in style to London museums but solely on NZ). I'm sure James' highlight of the day were the LOTR Weta studios! (Edit James: hooooly yes. Loved the whole day, but the WETA cave was gorgeous! Tiny and cool! Geek ahoy!)

At night we had dinner with the whole family and I got to meet my second cousin! (always nice meeting great new family members). Again, the dinner and chatting went on late into the night so I had no time to write a post until after crashing ... i.e. now :) A wicked two days and a big THANK YOU to Auntie Edwige and Uncle Pete! (edit James: BIG BIG MASSIVE ONE from me too!!! Thanks so much! And I love Morse :) )

Today or tomorrow we head off into the wild again. The much anticipated Tongariro crossing (Mount Doom) (edit James : cue LoTR soundtrack please!) awaits us and loads to come after that too!! :) :)

Cheers
Andrew