South Island – Kaikoura to Motueka.

The whale trip was so good. We got to see 4 or 5 sperm whales and as you’ll have seen Colin got some good photos. Sorry we can’t post them all just yet. Luckily we woke that morning to find perfect blue skies, a gorgeous view of the mountains nearby and, what looked like, calm seas. There was no hint of the storms we’d driven through on the way down there. The day before we had not been at all confident it would happen. There was a sea-sickness warning in place, however, as the sea was still really choppy. A warning which many had not listened to as there were many little paper bags being used! Not by us luckily. As it was such gorgeous weather the new gloves we’d bought were completely redundant.

Today we drove back up north to Motueka, a town north-west of Nelson where we are staying on a fairly quiet campsite. This was perfect as it allowed me to have a quick go on the inflatable pillow near our site. I had never heard of these before I started camping in NZ. It’s like a huge bouncy castle but in the shape of a pillow and it has no walls. I’m sure it’s meant for the kids but as there were none around... It only took a few minutes of my bouncing (and giggling) before Colin couldn’t resist and came bouncing too. Who would have thought 2 fully grown adults could have so much fun on a giant airbag. Not 2 minutes after we went back to our site we heard similar giggling and realised we’d started an adult inflatable pillow craze!! Then we had an interesting meal of sausages, mushrooms and baked beans on toast, as we realised we hadn’t bothered to do any food shopping.

Tomorrow we are off kayaking again. Buoyed by confidence after the last one, crazy fools that we are, we decided we could do a full day kayak tour. We’re ready to take on the challenge armed with our factor 30, new sun hats, (colin’s) new sunglasses – he lost a pair in Kyoto, new long sleeved t-shirts and a lot of enthusiasm (it makes up for the lack of skill!). The weather is supposed to remain good for a few days yet so it should be great.

Before you all get too jealous though, you can all rest assured that while we’re having gorgeous days, we’re also getting freezing nights. So when we’re paddling around the coastline we’ll spare a thought for you back home, if you’ll do the same for us when you’re tucked up in your comfy, warm, draught-free beds!!