I started earlier than normal today, normally Edd really has to get me up but I desperately needed a shower this morning and wanted to beat the queue in the cubicles. We had a relaxed pack up and set off into town to see what left overs had been left from yesterday's festival. We had seen adverts for a farmers market and we parked up next to a few tables with a food truck at the end. Town was still full of hungover party goers and the fish and chip shop was the busiest place in town.
We wandered down to the whale watching place to book our tour as lots of tourist arrived back from the 7.15am tour that was being refunded as the weather was too rough out to sea and they didn't see a whale. You're 95% guaranteed and I guess today was just one of the 5%. Im going to make sure I take seasickness tablets tomorrow.
We decided today was a rest day in kaikoura, we found a walk along the peninsula that looked great and picked up a load of brochures for little bits and bobs. We set out to the end of the peninsula and arrived to a stunning view!
As I was busy trying to take photos Edd was rushing off across the rocks. When I finally caught up with him he explained that this was an area to see seals and he just wanted to check there weren't any. We assumed it was too low tide for them until we turned around to see two sat next to us with a crowd gathered to get real close.
What followed was the best walk I think I have ever done, ever! We walked up on the cliff and on one side we had green fields, sheep, and snow capped mountains, the other, turquoise clear water, beautiful beaches rocky shores with seals dotted everywhere! We both loved it!
We walked all the way along the cliffs looking down on birds and seals and then climbed down off the cliffs and walked back across shingles, rocks and sand. We came unnervingly close to a seal as we tried to climb around the bottom of a cliff but he was pretty relaxed and didn't seem to care we were struggling around him.
We turned the next corner to the sound of hundreds of birds. I don't know what they were doing, nesting or socialising I guess. As we stood watching them suddenly one decided to take off and before we knew it we were surrounded in soaring birds all in synchronisation. It was soo beautiful and incredible to see them all in the air together as one. We are so lucky with wildlife, as we arrive they do something cool!
We finished the walk and jumped back in the car with 40 minutes to spare before our next event! We stopped at a road side seafood BBQ for Edd to have scollops and a crayfish fritter whilst I made us cheese sandwiches.
The next stop was a funny little half hour activity that I had wanted to do for a while. We met a farmer and he let us feed his baby lambs, a big ram and showed us how to shear a sheep. It turns out that they keep the baby lambs from about 3 months, up to a year maximum. 
The ones we looked after were 3 weeks old and already getting big. The sheep tend to have two babies and so if they have triplets the farmer has to look after the third, the mum doesn't have enough milk. The ram was huge and I have to admit I was too distracted feeding him to concentrate on learning anything about him!
We watched as he sheared a ewe, it was really lovely to see, I was so impressed that she stayed so still but apparently that's technique and she wouldn't behave if I tried. He talked us through the price of wool (for his sheet that make carpet wool, not the best stuff for clothes), the nasty bits at the feet and on the head are worth $1 a kilo, the good stuff $2 a kilo.
A sheep produces 3kg of wool each shear and this breed is shaved twice a year. That's $12 a year. The tour cost the same so it's definitely worth his while having people watch. A lamb sold for meat is worth $80-$100. They interbreed two types of sheep because one is good for the meat and one grows more wool.
Our farmer only manages to shear two sheep a day and it took him a good five minutes but on average a professional sheep shearer could do 400 in 8 hours. The record in NZ is 866 one year old lambs in an 8 hour day that's 37.2 seconds per sheep for 8 hours solid!!!!
We also visited an old whaling house and walked around the little cottage to learn about whaling. The house is the only one on earth still remaining that's built on whale bone foundations! I can see why, whale bones are so heavy and solid!
We finally found out the answer to how on earth did men years ago catch animals in the water so much bigger than their boats. They used to spot a whale, jump in little rowing boats and chase it, harpoon it and then sit and be dragged until the whale got exhausted, once they had slowed it down they would harpoon it and puncture a lung. Then lots of rowing boats would tie themselves to the whale and work together to drag the poor thing back to mainland. 
Depending on how long the whale had taken to get tired they often had a very hard row back to shore. The whale blubber was then sliced off the animal in big slabs and boiled to get out the precious oils that were used to burn lamps and as fuel. The whale bones were used in corsets of women's dresses.
We sat for a while over looking the sea and drove to a view point to enjoy a cuppa tea over looking the water. We then did a small food shop and got some salmon for dinner before checking into the campsite. I had a nap because I had been up far too late last night thinking through Hannah's hen do and couldn't sleep!! I think Edd sorted some bits for the next few days.
We had planned to pop into town for a drink but by the time we started dinner it was too late for town as everything shuts so early in NZ!
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