Whales, seals and Christchurch...

The cute little town Kaikoura on the East coast is the "capital" of whale-watching. This is due to the fact that some 5 miles from the coast the sea depth reaches some 950m and the whales just feel good there:) I still wonder why they calling it whale watching as one can not really see the whale, but just see his fin and/or the fountain of water going out of his nose...Twice we saw Tiaki, a 19-year-old sperm whale. The sperm whale is the fourth biggest whale in the world and males grow up to 13 m. They come up for some 5 minutes on the surface for every 45 minutes they spent underwater...Nowadays the whalewatch boats can track them with funny tools who measure/record their position underwater and like this one can find easily one for "watching":-)

We heart just by accident about swimming with the seals and went there in the afternoon with the operator SealSwim...It was an amazing experience!!!Seals are very curious creatures and they were coming up to 10 sm close to us. We were in the sea about 45 min, which was impressive, when u think that the water temperature was 16 degrees!!!

Posing with the colourful wall paintings in Kaikoura, tired after the busy day:)

Today on the way down to Christchurch we stopped in a lavender farm. The host was very happy to have a chat with us and even more delighted when she heart where we come from. " France and Bulgaria are two big lavender producers", she said, before giving me some lavender oil against the ichy mozzie bites I got (after a count last night:30).

Christhurch seemed (for the couple of hours we got here) very cozy and pleasant city. Tomorrow morning we get the 32-hour-flight (via Singapore) back home....all good things have an end...

Abel Tasman National Park experience

Abel Tasman Park (named after the Dutch explorer) is the smallest park in NZ, but definitely one of the most beautiful. We were lucky enough (a big thanks to the weather) to have sunny and warm temperatures! Our two kiwi-guides explained us the local flora and history and coached us during the itinerary: 22 km of walking and 25 km of sea-kayaking! We started with 1,5 days hiking in beautiful fern forests and beaches.

The unfolding fern is the symbol of New Zealand, in Maori culture it symbolises the new begining.

During kayaking the last day we got some wind pushing us and we lined up 3 kayaks next to each other and put a sail on, was an awesome experience to ride the waves and to get wet at the same time-thanks to all the great people (locals and from overseas) in the group for the funny time! Some facts of the country history shocked us again: when Maori arrived on the island some 800 years ago 90% of it was forest, now only 30% of it remains...

The Kiwi-Team TonyFamily flying with the wind:)

From the plant Pohutukawa (the New Zealand Christmas tree) here one makes great honey...

The sun can be dangerous...Yesterday the fire alarm was on extreme-see above!

I got some fights with the rainforest mozzies (mosquitoes) as they really liked me and now have difficulties stopping scratching my 10 bites per leg:( For the rest we are just fine, drove on Wednesday evening down the East coast to Kaikoura from where the nice sky-cloud image comes from:) Less than 2 more days left for us here...