Watching whales and warm water

I've wanted to go whale watching at Kaikoura for a long time, and hearing stories from most of my family and lots of friends after whale watching trips these past few months, I decided it was time to head down to that part of the country. Whale Watch Kaikoura have an awesome website with updated information about the day's sightings and weather conditions. The scene was set.

We got to see two resident sperm whales, a bunch of dusky dolphins swimming alongside the boat (they were sooooo cute!), and a handful of albatrosses with wingspans of up to four metres each. Well, I say we but unfortunately, being sick as a dog for the first time ever while on a boat, I got to see very little. I'm hoping the photos will turn out. ;-(

So, after NO lunch, and a miserable drive further south and inland, we headed towards Hanmer Springs, where I was hoping for R&R and a break from throwing up. This is such a cute little town. Being highly dependent on tourism, we were pleasantly surprised to find everything open on Good Friday. The owner of our backpackers informed us that Easter is always the busiest weekend of the year. So off to the hot pools we went.

Quite pricey, you'd want to arrive at the pools with plenty of time to enjoy them. With a wide range of temperatures to choose from, we chopped and changed between thermal pools ranging from 36-41 degrees Celsius, trying short stints in each. It's at times like this that I try to work out how I can manage to put a private spa in my back yard (once I get a back yard, that is), but instead have to make do with other people's pools or hot springs in the meantime. Bliss.

Driver fatigue

I've often left for trips when tired from tying up loose ends at work etc, so I guess I've done more than my fair share of tired driving. This holiday was no different.

There seems to be a real blitz on driver fatigue at the moment. My sweetie and I arrived at the ferry this morning to be greeted by Police, receive bottled water for the driver, and information about driver fatigue for passengers. We appreciated the water (and mini-cookie) but gave it no further thought until we came across a driver reviver station as we passed through Half Moon Bay while heading south to Kaikoura.

Run by State, driver reviver stops are a brilliant idea. Real coffee (note: real, not instant or filtered), hot cross buns, fruit, bottled water, and Easter eggs inside big marquees were a welcome relief on the drive south. Apparently they're set up in long driving stretches over Easter and Labour weekends. (I wonder what happens at Queen's Birthday and other times of the year?). Great to see such a proactive initiative. :-)