Wow! I’ve become such a slacker on keeping up with my blogs! I guess you guys will just have to fester in anticipation for a while to find out what I’m actually doing in current times =) Until then, I’ll continue where I left off last. Sontsa & I arrived in Kaikoura late afternoon on Sunday, May 22nd and immediately walked to the I-site to book a dolphin encounter tour for the next day. Kaikoura is a very small east coast town on New Zealand’s south island that is known for its huge population of resident dolphins, as well as resident whales. The main activities for tourists are therefore swimming with the dolphins and whale watching. We opted for the dolphin swim =) During our short walk to the I-site to get it booked, we had noticed a steep hill to our right (the only hill in the entire town mind you) & we joked that the hostel we had pre-chosen from our hostel guide would probably be up that hill. Guess what? Uh huh…it was. Let me just tell you, walking up that lovely hill with our huge backpacks was not exactly what I would describe as fun. Oh, plus I failed to mention in my last couple of blogs that Sontsa & I never quite got over being sick. After leaving Dunedin, we continued to be a bit sickly during our travels to Moeraki, Oamaru, Mount Cook, Lake Tekapo, Christchurch & Kaikoura. We had spent $40+ on medicines trying to get better, but to no avail. Plus, any kind of exercise or cold weather just aggravated our symptoms, so by the time we made it up the hill with our backpacks (in the cold), we were coughing up a storm. Fabulous.
Needless to say, we took it easy that night. After some lovely backpacker food for dinner, we decided to relax in the DVD room & watch a movie. To our dismay, the DVD room was ridiculously cold. If memory serves correctly, I recall seeing my own breath while sitting in the room. However, determined to have a nice movie night, we just bundled up with some extra layers of clothing & some blankets and watched our movie. The next morning, we got up extra early for our much-anticipated dolphin encounter! As we looked outside, however, we didn’t feel too positive about our boat trip still going out as scheduled; the weather looked quite daunting. Crossing our fingers & hoping for some luck, we walked to the dolphin encounter office. Sure enough, they had temporarily delayed the trip in hopes that the weather would clear up a bit. Sontsa & I took a seat in the attached café and tried to stay optimistic. The problem was that if the dolphin swim was to be cancelled for that day, we wouldn’t be able to do it at all; we had already previously booked plane tickets to fly out of Christchurch the next day to go back to the north island. After about 30 fidgety minutes waiting in the cafe, the dolphin crew announced that the weather had cleared up enough & the trip was ON! =) Woot woot! Everyone lined up to get signed in. Sontsa & I were suddenly greeted by a familiar voice. It was Marie from Germany, a fellow backpacker who Sontsa had met in Auckland when she first arrived in NZ & who we later ran into while living in Napier. It was such an unexpected, pleasant surprise that she was not only in the tiny town of Kaikoura when we were, but was also booked onto our same boat trip!
After we all got signed in, we were lead into a back room where each of us were then fitted with a wetsuit, a hooded vest, booties, gloves, flippers, and a snorkel. Then, after we’d all changed into our sexy wetsuits (the girls of course lagging behind the boys), our group of about 15 was lead into a room with a small movie screen. There, we had to watch a 15-minute video discussing the DOs and DO NOTs of swimming with wild dolphins. First rule: no touching! That’s right…unfortunately, there would be no riding around the water while holding on to Flipper’s fin. =( The dolphins in the ocean around Kaikoura were a different species than the bottlenose dolphins I am used to seeing back home in Florida. These were a species called dusky dolphins, smaller than bottlenose dolphins and dark gray & white instead of light gray. The dusky dolphins are known for being highly social, usually living together in groups called pods. In the Kaikoura region, each pod generally consists of anywhere between 100 to 800 dolphins! Not surprisingly, Kaikoura is therefore recognized as one of the best places in the world to encounter wild dolphins in their natural environment. A second key point the video illustrated was the fact that because the dolphins are wild, they could very well leave our group at any time if they were to get bored. It was therefore up to us to keep them entertained! In order to do this, the video suggested that we mimic the dolphins’ movements, maintain eye contact with them, move in circles with them, dive under the water, and make entertaining sounds to keep their attention. It was apparent that we were in for an interesting morning =)
After we all got signed in, we were lead into a back room where each of us were then fitted with a wetsuit, a hooded vest, booties, gloves, flippers, and a snorkel. Then, after we’d all changed into our sexy wetsuits (the girls of course lagging behind the boys), our group of about 15 was lead into a room with a small movie screen. There, we had to watch a 15-minute video discussing the DOs and DO NOTs of swimming with wild dolphins. First rule: no touching! That’s right…unfortunately, there would be no riding around the water while holding on to Flipper’s fin. =( The dolphins in the ocean around Kaikoura were a different species than the bottlenose dolphins I am used to seeing back home in Florida. These were a species called dusky dolphins, smaller than bottlenose dolphins and dark gray & white instead of light gray. The dusky dolphins are known for being highly social, usually living together in groups called pods. In the Kaikoura region, each pod generally consists of anywhere between 100 to 800 dolphins! Not surprisingly, Kaikoura is therefore recognized as one of the best places in the world to encounter wild dolphins in their natural environment. A second key point the video illustrated was the fact that because the dolphins are wild, they could very well leave our group at any time if they were to get bored. It was therefore up to us to keep them entertained! In order to do this, the video suggested that we mimic the dolphins’ movements, maintain eye contact with them, move in circles with them, dive under the water, and make entertaining sounds to keep their attention. It was apparent that we were in for an interesting morning =)
We took a short bus ride to where the boat was docked, boarded the boat & were on our way! During the winter months (it is very much winter in New Zealand, ya know), the dolphins are known for staying further and further away from shore. So, it took us about an hour-long boat ride before coming upon a huge pod of the dusky dolphins! Before I get to that though, I have to say that the boat ride out there, although cold, was really great. The two Kiwi women who were running the dolphin encounter tour were sooo incredibly enthusiastic, absolutely loved their jobs and just adored Kaikoura. It was quite refreshing to see how happy it made them. Plus, along the way, we saw 3 curious seals AND a humpback whale! Really awesome =) When we finally came upon the duskies, the boat captain turned the engine off, and our group made our way to the stern of the boat. There, we sat down side by side on this metal platform attached to the back of the boat with our legs hanging over in the incredibly cold water, waiting for the Kiwi gals to signal for us to enter the water.
They blew the horn and off we went! First thought upon my initial submersion: “OMG…this water is friggin F-R-E-E-Z-I-N-G!” Second thought after the initial shock: “OMG…this is friggin A-W-E-S-O-M-E!!” The pod of duskies that we had the pleasure of entertaining consisted of between 200-300 dolphins. Swimming face down in the water with my snorkel, I constantly had dolphins coming toward me from all directions. I took the liberty of making a few noises through my snorkel and doing some dives under the water to keep their attention too. =) Anytime they circled around me, I circled with them and kept eye contact. They’d usually keep going around with me for a few minutes, then just jet off all of a sudden to the deep, out of sight. With hundreds of them in the water though, I always had at least a few of them around me. It was truly a unique experience! We did two separate excursions into the water during the boat trip, allowing our bodies to regain some heat imbetween the two swims. Then, after we were done for the day, the Kiwis provided us with some hot tea, cookies & warm blankets. Our Kaikoura mission had been accomplished!
After getting back to the hostel and taking showers, Sontsa & I put a load of laundry through the wash & into the dryer, then made our way down the hill into town. From there, we explored some shops and found these great, super cheap necklaces with sharktooth-shaped pendants made from local shells. After making our purchases, we just strolled around the town for a bit, checked out some cafes, and bought additional cough medicine from the pharmacy (I’m aware that swimming in the 55-degree water earlier that day did nothing to help our sickness, but hey). We returned to the hostel only to learn that the dryer did not perform its one duty: drying our clothes. We reluctantly paid for yet another cycle of drying, which was again unsuccessful. The next morning, I asked the hostel owner what time the laundrymat opened in town; she inquired as to why I needed to know since they had washers & dryers in house. I explained the situation & the fact that we were flying to the north island that day & couldn’t pack our bags with wet clothes. As it turns out, Sontsa & I are just half-retarded sometimes (but you already knew that) =). We had the dryer on the incorrect setting the whole time. The woman fixed it for us, then dried our clothes for free. So nice! Luckily, we also still had a little bit of time before we had to catch our bus back to Christchurch. So, Sontsa & I went back into town to do some last-minute sightseeing .
New Zealand is well-known for having paua shells that are popularly made into jewelry. Therefore, I thought it only appropriate that I buy a new ring made of paua shell. During my purchase, I asked the woman behind the counter if she knew what time the hair salon opened that was just down the road. First, I need to reiterate to you just how small Kaikoura is. The main part of the town consists of one main road that can be easily walked in under 30 minutes. However, in this case, the hair salon was a mere 5-minute walk from the shop in which I purchased the ring. The local woman’s response to me regarding the opening time of the salon was, “Oh..I really don’t know. I never go to that side of town.” Hahahaha! “That side of town”?! Oh wow. I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry =) Anyway, I ended up walking to the ‘other side of town’ & penciled myself in for a haircut. Sontsa & I then made our way across this small walking bridge, bringing us to Kaikoura’s beautiful stone beach with mountains on both sides. After some picture-taking, I went back to the hostel to get my backpacks, brought them down to the salon, and got a much-needed haircut for the low cost of $15 NZD. With perfect time, mine & Sontsa’s bus to Christchurch pulled up just as the hairdresser finished styling my hair. So, with a fresh look and feeling good, I jumped onto the bus. Having successfully toured the entire south island in a matter of a few short weeks, we were on our way to Christchurch to catch our flight back to Auckland once again.
Cheers,
Ash
Cheers,
Ash
