We woke up early again the next morning (6:20 AM) to bundle up to go whale watching. It was REALLY cold out and we each had about 6 layers of clothes on. I was one of the few people who had brought gloves with me and was very happy I did! We checked out of the hostel and drove to the whale watching place. When we got there, we were informed that the 7 AM tour was canceled due to rough seas. There were 3 more boats scheduled to go out that day (at 10, 10:30, and 12) but they didn’t know yet whether those boats would sail either. They told us to call or stop by 15 minutes before to find out. We all really wanted to do the whale watching, so we decided to try again for the 10 AM boat.
Since we were up anyway, we decided to watch the sunrise. It was a beautiful setting with the mountains and the water. Then, we went back to the hostel and we able to get back into our room to take “naps”/go back to bed for a little while. Our room was freezing, so we just got back into bed with all of our clothes and jackets on (a few people even slept in their shoes)! We slept until 9:30 and then headed into town so that we could stop at a store where people could buy gloves. On our way, the other car called the whale watching company and found out that all of the boats were canceled for the rest of the day. We were disappointed, since that was the main reason we had come to Kaikoura, but we went to the information center (iSite) to come up with an alternate plan.
Everyone except for Rich and James decided to go horseback riding at a local ranch outside of town.
Here's Kelly and I all geared up and ready to ride:
It was a gorgeous day for riding. Bright blue skies, crisp air, and we rode near the mountains which looked beautiful with snow on them. 
Since there were 9 of us, they split us up into two smaller groups, so we could all talk with the guide. My group’s guide was a very nice woman named Linda. She was really friendly and talkative. My horse’s name was “Star” and I had a great time riding her. Linda let us trot at a couple of points and it was a lot of fun. Everyone was bouncing around, but especially Kelly – her horse “Madam” must have just given a bouncier ride! She was laughing so hard every time we trotted and Linda thought it was very funny. We also got to ride along this stream and then we even crossed it. Our horses went up to their knees at one point!
After horseback riding, we drove back into town to meet up with Rich and James. We got lunch at a café and then walked around town for a bit.
Here's Brian and I down by the water:
We all drove to visit a seal colony that Rich and James found. The seals were up on the rocks and we could get pretty close to them. 
We had to be careful though, because they get angry if you come between them and the water. 
We got some good pictures though and it was really cool to be so close to the seals in their natural habitat. 
Here's a video of one of the seals waddling along:
We started out on our drive to Nelson, but stopped along the way at Ohau Stream, where Linda told us that there are often baby seals that leave their mothers and come to play in the stream all day. It’s unusual that they come to play in fresh water, because normally they are out at sea. So on Linda’s advice, we stopped to check it out. It was only about a 10 minute walk (if that) to the stream. We were so lucky that we got to see if because there were SO many baby seals just playing around! They were not shy at all and just waddled right up to us. We were literally within inches of them and I think almost everyone got to touch one! I pet one and it was a lot softer than I was expecting – I guess they are called fur seals for a reason!
I was surprised that they were waddling up along the path and into the forest. When I think of seals, I imagine them in the water, not in the woods. It was interesting to see them so close up and so near us, but it was also really fun to watch them playing in the water. There was a waterfall and it was cool to see them playing in it, jumping around and doing flips. I felt like I was watching a seal show at Sea World or something, except I was really watching these baby seals out in the wild. We stayed for a little while, but it was late afternoon and we still had a 3 hour drive ahead of us.
We started out on our drive to Nelson, but stopped along the way at Ohau Stream, where Linda told us that there are often baby seals that leave their mothers and come to play in the stream all day. It’s unusual that they come to play in fresh water, because normally they are out at sea. So on Linda’s advice, we stopped to check it out. It was only about a 10 minute walk (if that) to the stream. We were so lucky that we got to see if because there were SO many baby seals just playing around! They were not shy at all and just waddled right up to us. We were literally within inches of them and I think almost everyone got to touch one! I pet one and it was a lot softer than I was expecting – I guess they are called fur seals for a reason!
I was surprised that they were waddling up along the path and into the forest. When I think of seals, I imagine them in the water, not in the woods. It was interesting to see them so close up and so near us, but it was also really fun to watch them playing in the water. There was a waterfall and it was cool to see them playing in it, jumping around and doing flips. I felt like I was watching a seal show at Sea World or something, except I was really watching these baby seals out in the wild. We stayed for a little while, but it was late afternoon and we still had a 3 hour drive ahead of us.
The lighting in the forest was really poor, so it was hard to get good pictures, but here you can see what the baby seals look like:
The girls in the backseat fell asleep for most of the drive, but Rich was sitting up front with me and stayed awake to keep me company and help direct. I was very thankful for that because I was starting to get quite sleepy myself, especially once it got dark out. When we finally got to our hostel, we checked in and we were split up between 3 rooms. It wasn’t the cleanest of hostels, but at least each room had its own bathroom. I was in a room with Kelly, Dana, and Cate.
We headed into town to get dinner, and everyone just wanted to grab Burger King quickly. Kelly, Caitlin and I weren’t up for that, so we split off from the group and got dinner at a Thai restaurant. It wasn’t really very good Thai food, but still definitely better than Burger King. We picked up some stuff at the grocery store for lunches the next day and then headed back to the hostel. We just hung around and played card games and did card tricks!
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