Kaikora, S. Island

A short hop, skip and jump from Hanmer landed us in the township of Kaikora. Again famous, this place is known for it's abundance of aquatic wild-life, including wales, dolphins and sea lions.

A must-do in this place was the dolphin encounter, where you swim with wild dolphins. We have to say that this is one of the most amazing things you can ever do! We spent a good few hours taking a boat out to sea and then snorkelling with them. We even had one dolphin stay with us for a good few minutes just swimming around both of us! One of the guides reckoned that there were several hundred dolphins in the pod!