A whale of a time...

After waving au revoir to our friend Arthur, we carried on East to Kaikoura in search of our wedding pressie from Hannah, Ed & the twins, and Barbara & David... Whales!

Kaikoura greeted us with some afternoon sunshine, a good omen for the next day's trip surely...

And it was! Excellent weather for Whale spotting, hurrah!

The local wildlife came out in full force for us! And look, there's that snow again!

Okay, okay, I know you want the whale pics not the sea birds and albatrosses (all though these were amazing too with a 3.5m wingspan!), so, here they are... we saw 3 Sperm Whales in total, 2 of them close up - they rested on the surface for a few minutes blowing water through their spouts before diving down to the depths... they really were absolutely HUGE! So unimaginably gigantic, yet so majestic and serene... just perfect!

Resting!

Just about to dive...

Diving!

Whoa!

No.3 in the distance - no.2 we saw across the bay but just missed seeing diving as the boat didn't quite get there in time!

Up close...

Diving! :)

Calm spot left after diving!

Fabulous no?! It was so amazing... bit chilly mind...

So, BIG BIG thank you's to our best man and bridesmaid, their twinnies, and also to David & Barbara! Such a super wedding pressie, thank you so much! x x x

P.s. also saw these guys on the way back... aaaawwwwhhhhhhhh!