We don’t really see much of Christchurch at this point of the tour as we will return at the end of the journey and so we Northbound.

Kaikoura is a scenic coastal town, famous for its spectacular marine wildlife, including whales, dolphins, and seals due to the deep Kaikoura Canyon close to the shore, hence, offering incredible wildlife tours and crayfish (rock lobster) to eat, living up to its Māori name meaning “eat crayfish”. It is situated between the Seaward Kaikoura range and the Pacific Ocean.

We have a free afternoon to do what we please and I was planned and ready for this afternoon lol – the rest of the group went for a trek after lunch, I let our guide know not to wait for me and that I would meet them all later – just to let me know the name of the accommodation, “sweet as” lol – getting into the NZ Lingo!

This girl went for a pamper afternoon at Diamond Nails “of course you did I hear you say”. Off I went in search of a beauty/nail salon, Fio had googled and there were two, the first one, no-one seemed to know and the second one, I found fairly easily and turned out to be broadly just across the road from our lodgings and oh happiness I spend 3 plus hours in there having a pedicure, manicure and some waxing – ready for the next 3 weeks, I was lucky this salon was super clean, every one wore gloves and new files were used for each client, the pedicure chair gave me a back massage while I sat and the pedicure included a lower leg and foot massage ….. bliss!

So, I just meet up with the team later and have dinner, Anne (pronounced Anna) and Fio have brought my luggage in, we go to dinner and have yet another early dinner as we have a long day on the bus tomorrow travelling to Abel Tasman National Park, the furtherest North we will travel in the South Island on this trip.