Day 21 – Thursday, January 18^th

• Breakfast: Continental
• Lunch: Crayfish Tasting
• Dinner: Burger, hot dog, and fries at Cooper’s catch

This morning, our bus headed from Christchurch to Kaikoura. Once we arrive in Kaikoura our tour group did a crayfish tasting along the beach.

Then a group of us got dropped off to go swim with the dolphins. We all got suite up in the full wet suits/snorkels/flippers then bussed out to the South harbor to take our boat out. It was only a 20 minutes boat ride for the captain to relocate the dolphins.

I got to swim with the dolphins five times about 10 minutes each which was absolutely unforgettable. Our boat got back to the port and bussed us back to town then got to our accommodation in Kaikoura. Ashleigh, Ainslie, Luka and I went to the grocery store to grab some snacks. After, we headed down to the town center to get some dinner. We ended up agreeing on Cooper’s catch. I enjoyed a junior burger, hot dog and some fries while we were all stared down by some hungry seagulls. Once back at the accommodation, Ashleigh, Ainslie and I talked for a bit then got ready for bed. While I was walking back from the bathrooms I found a cat, so we hung out with the cat for a bit before bed.

Day 22 – Friday, January 19^th

• Breakfast: Continental
• Lunch: Garden salad
• Dinner: BBQ cooked by our tour leaders

This morning our first stop was to see the beautiful view at the peninsula overlook of Kaikoura and the bay.

After this, we headed to The Doctor’s winery to do a wine tasting which wasn’t my favorite since I am not a big fan of wine. However, the winery itself was gorgeous and run by two retired doctor’s.

Then we drove the rest of the way to Nelson. We arrived at our accommodation around 4:30 so Madi, Ashleigh and I hung out for a bit in our room and talked until our group BBQ made by our trip leaders at 7pm. We had all kinds of food for dinner which was delicious. Once dinner was over, we relaxed for the rest of the night in the room.

Day 23 – Saturday, January 20^th

• Breakfast: Continental
• Lunch: Chinese teriyaki noodles
• Dinner: BBQ Ribs from Smuggler’s

Got up around 8:30am and got breakfast with Madi then we both went back to bed. Up and ready at 11am to catch a bus into the town for the Saturday markets. I bought myself an elephant, some headbands and a pair of dolphin tail earrings.

We then grabbed some frozen yogurt and shopped in Whirled while we waited for the 1:30pm bus back to our accommodation. Back there, Madi and I ate lunch then got ready for the beach. We headed to Tahuananui beach with a few of the girls on the tour.

Madi and I spent a few hours there swimming and tanning. When I got back to the hostel I showed and relaxed until Ashleigh got back from her all-day hike. At 7pm the tour group went to Smuggler’s to have a big group dinner then back to our room with a small group of people to play Heads up. Luka, Ashleigh and I watched some of the new season of Riverdale then we headed to bed.

Day 24 – Sunday, January 21^st

• Breakfast: Continental
• Lunch: corn dog, chips and chocolate
• Dinner: Chips with salsa and guacamole

Our tour group left the hotel around 8:30am to start driving to Picton to get the ferry from the south island to the north island of New Zealand. On our way we learned that there some mechanical issues with some of their ferries so the ferry we were supposed to get onto around 1:30 was cancelled so we would have to wait until 7:30pm to get a ferry. This would put us unto Wellington around 11pm. Luckily, there was a ferry that had been delayed from that morning that was departing around 11:25am and they had enough space for our coach bus and all of us on the boat. So, we took the 11:25am ferry from Picton to Wellington, which took about 3 hours and got to Wellington around 2pm.

Madi, Ashleigh, Ainslie, Luka and I went to Heyday for dinner around 5pm. This bar was unique in the sense that it was a board game bar so there were tons of board games to play while you ate dinner. The five of us played Scrabble and Guess Who. After dinner we headed back to the hotel and enjoyed the hot tub and pool for a little while. Once Ashleigh, Madi and I were back in our room we watched some more Riverdale and then went to bed.

Day 25 – Monday, January 22^nd

• Breakfast: Continental
• Lunch: McDonalds
• Dinner: Spaghetti with garlic bread and mud cake

Departing from Wellington this morning our tour group picked up 10 new people for our tour of the North island. Our first stop of the day was at Lake Taupo where there was a great lookout to get some amazing photos of the beauty of New Zealand. Then we headed back into Wellington to have the morning to enjoy the city. Madi, Ashleigh, Luka, Ainslie, and I went to the Te Papa Museum which had a World War 1 exhibit called Gallipoli: The Scale of our War. This exhibit featured artworks of recreations of war scenes based off of real stories.

The scenes depicted from men fighting in the war, to the conditions that the men had to face, and a nurse back home getting letters that her older brother was killed in action months before. The exhibit featured human replicas that were three times the size of normal human size. The amount of detail in these figures was immaculate. The men looked as they were sweating in that precise moment, the nurse was crying real tears and the detailing of the wounds the men had were scary. This exhibit was very emotional to go through because of the content and just thinking about what all these innocent people went through during this war. The photos don’t capture how gripping these figures were and if you are ever in Wellington and this exhibit is open, I highly encourage you to go (plus it’s free!). Once done at the museum, Ashleigh, Ainslie, Luka and I headed to get some lunch and we chose to go with McDonalds and spotted an adorable puppy!! We headed back to the museum to check out some more exhibits until our bus left at 2.

Once back on the road, we drove to Tongariro national park. At the accommodation, Ashleigh, Madi, Luka, Ainslie and I made a spaghetti dinner with garlic bread and mud cake for us. The rest of the night we hung out and talked until we went to bed.