Just doing a quick update on my blog since my last one was in New Zealand!

After seeing the yellow eyed penguin colony in Dunedin, we headed up the coast. Stopped off at a place called Oamaru, where we saw some tiny blue penguins in a colony there. Then we drove all the way past Christchurch to Kaikoura. After arriving there, me and Sally went whale watching off the coast which was pretty awesome! Got to see 3 sperm whales on the water, and watched them dive down too. They were massive! The next day, we all attempted to go swimming with dolphins. However, the weather conditions were quite bad so they had to stop and come back to shore which sucked! Nevermind, we managed to book on the tour again for the next day with a discount included!

The next day we headed out again on the boat, and eventually found what seemed like hundreds of wild dusky dolphins swimming around in the sea. We donned our wetsuits and snorkels, then dove into the water off the back of the boat and started swimming with the dolphins all around us. It was an incredible experience! We were all flailing and singing underwater to keep their attention, and you could look them in the eye and swim in circles with them it was amazing! The water was freezing too! Couldn't feel my feet! Such a great experience though! After Kaikoura we drove back down to Christchurch and returned the campervan. After a month stuck in a camper with eachother 24/7 we all decided it would be best to split up or do our own thing for a while in Australia. So me and Kat decided to travel together, whilst Steph and Sally would do their own thing too. We flew to Melbourne via Sydney on the 14th July, and spend about 4 days there. Such a nice city! Really cultural with a european style to it all. Looked around Federation Square and went down by the riverside for some great views of the skyline. Also went to a Tim Burton exhibition which was great! They had the actual Batmobile from the films there! Plus all the concept art from the films he's done.

After Melbourne, we got the overnight train to Sydney. Long train journey but Sydney is an amazing city! We went to the Royal Botanic Gardens where we saw bats hanging in all the trees, also went and saw the Opera House, and walked over the Harbour Bridge and back. Got some amazing views of the harbour when we got the Manly Bay ferry over to Manly! Such incredible views of the beautiful harbour. The Sydney Opera House and the Harbour Bridge both looked spectacular all lit up at night when we got the ferry back. Also managed to sort our itinerary out for the remaining month in Australia - as we don't have any time to waste really! Hopefully it'll be kind of relaxing though! Can't wait for the beautiful beaches of the east coast to come! Just arrived in Byron Bay today, which is known for its awesome beaches and surf.

Paul