Kaikoura - Christchurch

Okay, I lied about not posting for another two weeks. We've just arrived in Christchurceh, and saw this Internet cafe so..y'know.

The one bad thing in this holiday was yesterday morning, in Kaikoura. We'd booked ourselves on a whale-watching boat ride, and because I have gotten extremely sea-sick on past boat rides, I'd taken a couple of locally brewed seasickness capsules. I don't remember being advised to take them with food, but now I'm sure that I should have. From the time I took the capsules, right up until I got on the boat, I felt really queasy.

Seasickness is the closest thing to wanting to die, that I know.

I even threw up a couple of times while waiting to board. I contemplated not going on the boat after all, but went ahead with it because the boy said that if I didn't go he wouldn't either. Fortunately, the nausea cleared up soon after we boarded the boat. I still kept my sights on the horizon most of the time, but I was well enough to enjoy seeing two sperm whales (when they dive you see their tails flip up, just like on the postcards), a pod of Dusky dolphins (leaping about playfully as you'd expect) and various sea birds.

I felt sorry for the people who hadn't had the foresight to ingest pre-trip drugs; they spent the whole three hours hunched over in their seats and probably didn't see past their vomit bags. Even the boy threw up once, so it must've been moderately rough.

Yesterday we were at Hanmer Springs. We got ourselves a really lovely place to stay, with a spa bath, so we could have a dip before bedtime. Of course, we had a dip in the mineral pools too, though the only advantage these pools have over the hot pools near Taupo is the gorgeous alpine view.