Tuesday 12May09, Kaikoura

Our morning got off to a slow start, the ocean was rough and the whale watch was cancelled. We put our names on a wait list for a later departure and kept our fingers crossed. In the meantime, we walked around the Kaikoura Peninsula and saw a NZ fur seal colony. There were a lot of them sunning them selves on shore and we got really close, but boy did they stink! We walked along the high cliffs and once again got lots of pictures. We also did some souvenir shopping while waiting to see if the whale watch would depart. It was cancelled 2 more times but we finally left on the 2:00 boat and it was well worth it. We saw lots of birds, like the Albatross, and three sperm whales which was two more than most excursions see. They are so large and when they dive down it is fascinating to watch. We decided to head up to Blenheim for the wine tours on Wednesday.