Within an hour of leaving the dolphins we drove a for a wee bit and spotted a colony of NZ fur seals. The coastline around Kaikoura is well known for its postcard-perfect pictures of whales, seals, dolphins and crayfish.

The seals weren’t hard to spot.  As we got closer to Kaikoura their numbers increased dramatically and they were spread all along the coast.  It was really special to see the cubs running and jumping about in their pool just like children.

We also stopped in the town of Kaikoura where you can sign up for a number of tours but mainly all based around whale watching.  We met up with the German couple that sat by our fire the previous night and they had just come back from a helicopter tour.  They were told by the operator that they were almost guaranteed to see whales so they parted with $480 for a half hour spin but saw absolutely nout, not even a dolphin.

It would have been great to catch a glimpse of a whale or two, but a bit of a money spinner when it’s out of season.  We just moved on.