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My final stop on the kiwi bus was up to the bay of Islands which is the most north part of New Zealand. I had arrived back in Auckland the pervious night and my plan was to have an early night as I needed to be up at 6am to catch the bus but I was given a rubbish room with no curtains and it was above and next to a bar which meant I finally got to sleep at about 4am.
I got up and met craig who was also going on the trip (we had travelled up from Christchurch together) so we spent the bus journey sleeping and trying to organise our stay as there sees to be a million clipboards being passed round the bus and neither of us were really functioning (me because of the lack of sleep and craig because of the alcohol he had drank the night before). The bus was quite empty, the bus drivers tell us that over the Christmas period it is quiet as most tourists spend their time in Asia or Australia. We stopped off at an animal farm where they had actually sprayed three of their sheep pink - to attract the tourists apparently!) so craig and I got out photo taken in a giant pink sheep wooden shape where you stick your head through the hole and then we walked around the farm and saw piglets, lambs, ponies and some sheep shearing where the sheep kept jumping over their pen things. I didn't know sheep could jump that high!
We jumped back on the bus and after a lot of talking to the driver and passing of clip boards we decided to go swimming with dolphins and a trip to cape reinga, the most northern point (separate blog post). The dolphin swim was booked for 12.15pm and arriving at paihia at 11.45 we quickly paid for the trip and went to get a sandwich. Another girl on our bus, Angharad, was doing the dolphin swim too so she joined us.
We boarded the boat and there were about 30 people on board. There were two ladies taking us out to see called Trudy and Crystal who explained whilst they do everything they can to get us in the water it's not guaranteed and if there are young dolphins in the water then we weren't allowed in. To be honest after they had explained this both Angharad and I definitely thought we wouldn't see them! We were in the water for about half an hour when thee was a call on the radio from a small fishing boat who said they were with dolphins. The boat sped off to find them and as we pulled up to the fishing boat the men on the boat lifted up a massive 30kg fish they had caught, it was huge, no idea how they got it on the boat!
Then all of a sudden we had 6 dolphins swimming around us and jumping out the water. There was a baby swimming with them so we were not allowed in the water. We were joined by a couple of other dolphin viewing boats and spent about 45 minutes watching the dolphins. We could go right to the front of the boat, lay down so your head was over the boat and then he dolphins swim right underneath the boat. It was amazing.
The boat then left the dolphins to try and find another pod and we must have been looking for about an hour. One boat radioed to say they had seen one dolphin but not a group. We stopped the boat to look at an albino penguin, it was sooooo cute and then we got the call to say there were 5 dolphins in the water near by. The boat went at top speed and then we were with them, we had a quick safety talk on swimming, getting in and out the water and then we were handed a snorkel and mask and sat on the edge of the boat.
Somehow I managed to be the first in ther water! Trudy gets the boat in the rough position then has a wheel at the back of the boat where she can steer us right in. The dolphins were right under the boat and she said go, go, go and I was in the water. It took a bit of getting used to but they were right under me and swimming so close but then they would go and check out other swimmers from other boats so we had to get back on the boat.
The next turn I wasn't allowed to go as they only let 18 people in the water at once and just as I got in the water to swap with someone else the dolphins swam off so the third time I was determined to get in the water! The third time was by far the best they seemed to be playing with us and swimming underneath and jumping over us. I could have touched one but you're not allowed and the experience was amazing. Me and Angharad were laughing because we forgot to breath in our snorkels it was that exciting!
It seemed to go really quickly and we were called back to the boat and had to set off back. A really amazing experience, one of the best things I have ever done in my life and one I would recommend to anyone.
After that we walked back to the hostel, checked in and got ready for the evening. We had a bbq and took full advantage of happy hour. Craig and I had decided that we wanted a lie in the next morning so we had booked the trip to cape reinga in two days time.
The next day I wandered around the town and chilled on the beach which was about a two minute walk from the hostel. It's a beautiful place and I really enjoyed my three days there. Craig came down to the beach with me later on and he watched my things and I swam in the sea and then I just had a quiet night in. I did have a funny FaceTime with mum (she knows where the volume button on the iPad is now, which everyone in my room found hilarious) and facetimed the gang back at home who had sent me some funny photos of them at out annual Christmas party!
A good couple of days and the dolphin trip is one memory I will have forever
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