This week's photo- New Orleans

A bus stop along Canal Street in New Orleans. Love the colours!

Kaikoura

Kaikoura, New Zealand, is a great little place. It's not very large at all- you can cover the entire town on foot in under 15 minutes. That's of course, provided you don't stop in any of the souvenir shops, but then no-one comes here for the shopping.

Seagulls near the coast

Kaikoura ('kye-koe-ra'), which is Maori for 'a place for eating crayfish', is located on the eastern coast of the South Island, about one and a half hours from Christchurch. I would consider it a must-see on a visit to New Zealand, both for its amazing landscape and its wildlife.

No, this isn't a scene from 'The Birds'.

The coastline is dramatic- craggy and rocky and backed by snow-capped mountains. But that's only what we see on the surface. Things start to get really exciting about 1.5 kilometres offshore. That's when the bottom of the sea plunges to a depth of 2kms and where the undersea Kaikoura Canyon begins.

And what happens when the sea gets really, really deep? We get to see whales:

© Whale Watch Kaikoura.

I signed up for a tour with Whale Watch Kaikoura the same day I arrived. Whale Watch conducts marine-based tours via catamaran. The company says it has a 95% success rate, which means that they very rarely don't get to see whales on a tour, so you're almost guaranteed a chance of seeing either sperm whales, orca (which are actually dolphins), humpback whales or even blue whales, depending on the time of year. I went in winter and managed to see three sperm whales in one day.

Whale Watch isn't your only option- World of Whales conducts helicopter tours, which means that just like what their website says, you get to see the whole whale from above, head to tail. The benefit of taking a heli tour also means that you don't miss out on the incredible scenery around you.

 © Whale Watch Kaikoura.

Although all you get to see with Whale Watch is a giant fluke and a dark floating mass, the company is reputed to be the most popular whale-watching tour operator in Kaikoura, and I tend to agree with the majority. It must be amazing to look at a whale from above but when you're that far up, the experience could be a little detached from what's happening down below.

The crew on the Whale Watch catamaran uses hydrophones to listen out for sounds made by the whales. In a way, this method detects the whales long before they come to the surface to breathe, allowing the captain ample time to speed up and head for the location of the sound. I'll never forget that moment when the crew detected our first sperm whale for the day - the guide turned up the volume on the hydrophones and a weird clicking noise filled the boat. There's no way I would've heard that if I'd chosen the helicopter tour.

Whales weren't the only animals here I encountered up close. The following day, I went seal kayaking (ie. kayaking to a seal colony) with Kaikoura Kayaks. This ended up being one of the best things I did on that trip. I rowed out with my guide Matt to the Kaikoura Peninsula and saw quite a large colony of big fat seals. One of them was rolling in ecstasy in strips of thick kelp and ignored us completely. It's not easy taking photographs in a kayak but we came across this big guy sunbathing on his rock:

But no, that's not the end of my story. I was rowing leisurely on our way back after leaving the seal colony when Matt, who had been staring straight ahead, suddenly cried out and told me to row as fast as I could. "I can see dolphins! Quick!" he shouted.

And so I rowed until my arms ached and felt like they would fall off. We caught up with the dolphins but I couldn't tell how many of them there were; counting them was impossible. Their movements were as fluid as silk, yet super fast.

The dolphins were on both sides of our kayak, jumping in and out of the water. I couldn't believe what was happening. We were actually racing with a pod of dolphins. We were so close to them, I could hear the sound of air being expelled out of their blowholes.

"I don't want to hit them with my paddle," I said, my voice shaking with excitement.

"You won't, they're very fast, they'll avoid it," said Matt.

We rowed as fast as we could and raced with them for another few minutes, but they beat us eventually and disappeared into the distance.

I only managed to snap a few blurry photos of the dolphins swimming next to us. This is one of them:

These guys were too fast for me.There's a faint shadow of another one, underwater, closer to the kayak

Well, we all know what people say about blurry photos.....it's just another excuse to go again.

For more info, contact: 

Whale Watch Kaikoura,

PO Box 89, Kaikoura

New Zealand

res@whalewatch.co.nz 
t +64 3 319 6767
f +64 3 319 6545

Kaikoura Kayaks

19 Killarney

Kaikoura

New Zealand

Free Phone: 0800 452 456

Phone: +64 21 462 889

Fax: +64 3 319 7218

Email: paddle@kaikourakayaks.co.nz

100% Pure

I haven't been to very many countries but of all the places I've been to, my all-round favourite has to be New Zealand. If I were to migrate, it would probably be to NZ, that boot-shaped country at the corner of the world.

I love the sense of humour which New Zealanders have. They can laugh at themselves and the fact that there are more sheep and cattle than human beings - 32 million sheep and 5.8m cows compared to 4.3m people.  Add the incredible variety in landscapes and that's enough for me. And what's not to love about a bunch of people who made bungy jumping famous? I've been to New Zealand three times already and I don't think I'm done.

This was the route I took the last time I was there:

I started in Christchurch in the South Island and worked my way through the country via public transport. I hate package tours, so I took trains and buses plus a connecting ferry to the North Island. I then went on until I reached Auckland, which is where I flew out from a month later.

The wonderful thing about the country is how tourist-friendly it is, particularly for backpackers. I planned the entire trip myself which, honestly speaking, isn't difficult to do in New Zealand. If you're travelling independently, have a look at Travelpass and Kiwi Experience for bus passes throughout the country. These options allow you hop on and off your bus along your preselected route, within the validity period of your respective pass. Another is Magic Bus, where you can combine bus travel and hostel stays. If you're still confused, click here for a list of bus passes.

When I was there, I used the Best of NZ Pass which allowed me to travel by train, ferry and coach. Unfortunately this pass doesn't exist anymore and has since been replaced by The TranzScenic Rail Pass which, like its name suggests, connects you to its rail network. New Zealand has some lovely train journeys like the TranzAlpine (Christchurch-Greymouth), TranzCoastal (Christchurch-Picton) and Overlander (Wellington-Auckland). I'm not entirely sure why they got rid of the Best of NZ Pass because I can't imagine it not being popular.

If you're looking for a place to sleep, I would recommend BBH World Traveller Accommodation. The BBH Club Card gives you discounts in over 300 hostels and guesthouses, but what I really liked was the NZ$20 prepaid phone card which was included in the deal, which I used to make train and bus bookings for onward journeys. There are other accommodation options, of course,  but I wouldn't be able to comment on them.

Some photos I took along the way, taken from the many trains and buses I rode on:

The Taieri Gorge Railway from Dunedin to Queenstown

On the way to Queenstown

You can't have a post about New Zealand without sheep. Gotta have the sheep! Taken on the way to Te Anau

Punakaiki, on the way to Picton for the North Island ferry

Taken soon after leaving Rotorua, on the way to Taupo. Absolutely gorgeous.

More on New Zealand after this. Have a good week ahead!

This week's photo- Chilies

I was in a vegetable market in Terengganu, Malaysia when I saw this huge mound of fresh chillies at one of the stalls. Red and green really go well together.

Love on the road

You're sitting in the airport departure lounge where tinkly muzak is wafting through the air as you wait to board your plane. You turn to your right and notice a mysterious, smoking hot stranger a few seats away. Your eyes meet for a few magical seconds, time stands still and the first thought that enters your mind is, "Oh, wow. I wonder if we'll have a chance to get together".

I'm exaggerating, of course, but you know what I mean. We've all experienced this- gone on holiday, locked eyes with a good-looking stranger and almost immediately, considered running away with this person.

It's a given that you have better chances of meeting someone when you're travelling by yourself. Whether you're a guy or a girl, if you're alone in a foreign land, you instantly become more attractive and 'available' to both locals and fellow travellers. It's got nothing to do with how you look. Even the most average-looking person under five feet two (yes, that would be me) can attract a second glance if he or she happens to look different from everyone else.

So should you or should you not, take things further with someone you've just met on holiday? By all means, go ahead if you want to. I did- I'm keeping in touch, long distance, with a guy I went out with while overseas recently, but what's important is not to expect too much.

In fact, one shouldn't expect anything to come out of it:

1- No matter how well both of you clicked, that might just be IT. Full stop.

I met Andrew from Ireland at Vientiane airport on my way back home a few years back. Coincidentally, he was also headed for Kuala Lumpur so we started chatting and ended up sitting next to each other on the plane. We enjoyed each other's company so much that we sat together in a shuttle bus from the airport and exchanged e-mail addresses and phone numbers. When he called a day later  from a public phone (he couldn't use his mobile) and asked to meet up, I wasn't free so I asked him to call the following day. I never heard from him.

2-  If you're a single female, always keep your wits about you

Everything is wonderful when you're travelling. You're happy to be away from home and the skies aren't just blue, they're glorious. Every day is an adventure, every flower is beautiful, every bird singing a symphony- you get the picture. It's normal to let your guard down when you're away, but try not to let that happen, especially when you know nothing about the person you've just met.

3- First impressions can be (very) deceiving 

At times I wonder whether I leave my sense of judgment behind when I'm on holiday, and I'm speaking from experience here. Be wary when you make plans to meet up with someone you met while travelling because you might be disappointed when you meet him or her again. This goes back to how travel makes everything seem fascinating. In a foreign environment, anyone who is different from you is 'exotic' and 'interesting'. That cute backpacker whose habit of saying,"You know what I mean? You know what I mean?" after every sentence, which you found so endearing in Mongolia, can have the opposite effect back home. The same person who took your breath away on holiday can turn out to be a pretentious idiot when you return to real life. Be prepared for "What the hell was I thinking??" moments.

4-Having said that...

If you can remind yourself to be realistic and not expect too much, just go out and have fun.

If I could travel with just ONE person

.......it would be Obi-Wan Kenobi 

Checkpoint: Let me see your ticket and passport. 
Obi-Wan: [with a wave of his hand] You don't need to see her ticket or passport. 
Checkpoint: We don't need to see her ticket or passport. 
Obi-Wan: This isn't the girl you're looking for.
Checkpoint: This isn't the girl we're looking for.
Obi-Wan: She can go about her business. 
Checkpoint You can go about your business. 
Obi-Wan: Move along. 
Checkpoint: Move along... move along.


I wouldn't need to spend money on plane tickets any more.