Kaikoura - Combined Whale & Dolphin Tour

I'm helping my English friend plan her trip to NZ in December. She will be staying with my Mum for 4 days in Christchurch and probably taking a trip over to the West Coast in that time. She would also like to do a whale watching/dolphin swim trip in Kaikoura.

Can anyone recommend a company that does a combined whale watch & dolphin swim? Preferably a tour with transfers from Chch to Kaikoura.

There is only one company that does whale watching, and they don't do dolphin swimming, although you often see large pods of dolphins on the trips. You have to do them seperately.

There is an excellent daily train service between Christchurch and Kaikoura. However, I would recommend staying a couple of nights even in December, as bad weather oftne stops the boats.

We went on a whale watching trip with Whale Watch today in Kaikoura and it was excellent. After seeing two sperm whales the boat then took us to see a huge family of dolphins. It you want to go swimming with them though then you could try dolphin Encounters.