We were up early this morning, and had a delicious breakfast cooked by our lovely B&B host Margaret. We also learnt a lot about her early life on the original farm on that spot, and her 81 years living there.
After the winds of the previous night we had our doubts if our whale watching trip would go ahead, but we reported to the port at 7.45 am to be asked if we were good sailors, and to be told there was an acute sea sickness alert on the trip, but it would go ahead. We went for it, and discovered two other boats had already gone out that morning. At least it gave us a chance to photograph a sister boat.
After about half an hour we sighted a sperm whale! We actually ended up seeing the same whale on three separate occasions; on the second sighting he stayed on the surface for a long time so everyone got a chance to get good photos. The best photo, as always, is when he goes to dive, and his tail comes out of the water.
After time spent watching the whale (he is resident in the bay and is called Tiaka) we moved away from the deep trench close to Kiakoura, and motored to a shallower area where we could see Dusky Dolphins. They played alongside the boat and in the bow wave until we had to return to the harbour. The sea had quietened down a lot of then and all in all we had a great morning.
After a wander round in Kiakoura we drove north and stopped for lunch at Nin's Bin, the other crayfish cafe. We felt we had a duty to compare the two crayfish vendors! This one sold chips as well!
As we got closer to Blenheim, and particularly as we drove through the Awatere Valley, we started to see more and more vines. Some plantations were small, some were huge.
Just south of Blenheim we did a 7 km walk round a lagoon and marshy area. It was the flattest walk we had done anyway in the South Island! At the midpoint we saw the wreck of the Waverley, an 1883 steamer which had grounded in the lagoon in 1928 and had been left there to rust away. It was actually on its way to be scuttled by the bar into the river mouth at Blenheim when it ran into problems.
Mick had a look inside but all that was left of the interior was a pile of rust.
We saw masses of tiny crabs round the lagoon, plus grey herons and black swans, so a very pleasant walk.
Then we hurried into Blenheim where we met up with Robert and Stella at the motor lodge we are all staying in. After unpacking the car we walked over to the main hotel for the NZ TR Register National weekend, registered, then went to the bar for a beer. Then it was time for a buffet meal, and lots of talking. We met many members of the group, and I'm sure by the end of the weekend we will have got to know many more!
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