Kaikoura

On the weekend we had a very nice tour to Hanmer and Kaikoura. It was a small group but a good mixture of students. We had a Mother and daughter from Malaysia, a Brazillian,a Thai girl, a Swiss student, and Kazuyoshi from Japan.

Kazuyoshi was very interesting. he was 71 years old and retired. He has come to New Zeland to improve his english. We spoke alot during our two days awa, to help his conversational english, but I think I learnt more from him than he learnt from me. Kazuyoshi particully enjoyed sitting on the beach at Kaikoura and the smell of the sea. Very different from Tokyo!!

The first day we went Hanmer where most people went swimming in the hot springs. Virginia and Vivian are from Malaysia and have lived in New Zealand for five years. They decided to go Horse trekking instead of the hot springs.
The ride to the horse trekking farm was very exciting, very bumpy ride in the van and we had to drive through the river several times. It was a wild and exciting place to be. The horse trek farm was surrounded by beautiful hills and forest. It was more beautiful than I could of imagined. Virginia and Vivian went horse trekking for an hour, and you should of seen their faces when they came back, so happy, both of them couldn't stop smiling.
Virginia had ridden a horse before but it was the first time for Vivian. She said she wasn't scared at all and definitely do it again.

Sivana and Julia goto school together at Languages International. Julia has only been in New Zealand for four days and she was very enthusiastic about seeing some New Zealand scenery. Both her and Sivana loved the Lord Of The Rings films, and this was one of the reasons they chose to come to New Zealand. They were very happy to see amazing mountain scenery from Hanmer to Kaikoura, but they both agreed the highlight was going Whalewatching on Sunday, when they saw two whales up close. Amazing!!

Pinttira has been on 3 tours with me know, she is enjoying seeing New Zealand and travelling with us very much. For her seeing the Dolphins was the highlight. She was a little sick on the boat but she still managed to take many photos of the dolphins. I know she had a good time because she said she would be joining us on the Wine tour this weekend!

This week I'm off to see penguins in Dunedin, but thats a story for next week. See you then!