Whale watching is a treat we always do when we can. And today was that chance.

We went on the 10am slot this morning and got back to Kaikoura about 1.30pm.

The whale we saw was a sperm whale. Sperm whales have the heaviest and largest brains of all living mammals.

We also saw 2 types of dolphins and special seabirds…albatrosses and petrels.

These photos are Grandads because I was terribly seasick all the time and even grandad was seasick too. That’s unheard of isn’t it until today! There was quite a swell. We were on a smaller boat that was rocking around. I would go again though as it’s such a great feeling to be close to a huge whale. Hope you can all do this one day.

The sperm whales sink to the ocean floor to eat giant squid for about 45 minutes before they surface for about 10 minutes.

It’s cooler today 24*c and cloudy.

We have hot water again now So happiness has returned. Xxxx

We went to the Kaikoura museum this afternoon. There is a display of the devastation of the earthquake nov 14 2016. It was the most severe in Modern times in NZ. 8.6 on scale. Parts of the area rose up to 9 metres and there are thousands of after shocks still happening since. The area is still slowly moving towards north island even now. There were videos and photographs and personal accounts of that nights earthquake. The wildlife and seaweeds and shell creatures really suffered too. It was very interesting to read.

The rest of the museum is interesting too about the settlers who first came to the area. This Irish pub is from one of those first settlers and his family still run it to this day.

There were moa bones and whale jaw bones and fossils but interestingly hardly any mention of the maoris!

We leave here on Saturday so still 2 more full days to enjoy Kaikoura.