Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Kiwi Experience Day 19
On our way to Kaikoura we signed up for our next activity - swimming with dolphins. I have always wanted to swim with dolphins so I was really excited! We checked into our hostel and hurried down to the office to get kitted out in our wetsuits. When we paid for our trip we were told that although they had had a few successful trips over the last few days, as dolphins are wild animals and we would be entering their natural habitat, they couldn't guarantee that we would be swimming with the dolphins or even that we would see any, but there was a good chance. If it was an unsuccessful trip, we would get 80% of our money back, but we all had our fingers crossed.
We hopped in the van for a short ride down to the harbour, looking a bit like sperm whales in our wetsuits and funny rubber balaclavas! The water didn't look too bad, but once we got on the boat and started to move, we realised how choppy it actually was. I don't usually get sea-sick, but sitting in the tiny cabin with 15 other people, listening to the instructors explain about the trip, I started to feel really ill. We had been running late for the trip due to our new bus driver taking her time dropping us at the hostel, that we hadn't had time to have any lunch and that was part of the reason I was feeling a bit sick. We all moved out to the back of the boat to get a bit of fresh air and keep our eyes on the water for any sign of dolphins. And I sat quietly staring at the horizon trying to talk myself out of puking over the side of the boat! I was also feeling a little claustrophobic at the thought of using the snorkel. What a lightweight! Haha.
Every now and again, the instructors would call over the microphone that there were some dolphins coming into view, but as the boat followed them they would disappear. After a two hour rocky boat journey we had to give up with no show from the dolphins. Although we were all a little disappointed, I was secretly relieved as I felt so ill that I didn't think I could have got into the water even if they had showed. Ginger biscuits and hot chocolate all round was gratefully received! It was baltic on that boat!
Kiwi Experience Day 20 - 23
We left Kaikoura for Picton and got on the ferry for our return trip to Wellington on the North Island, where we met two new friends, James and Stevie. We had a night out in Wellington that night and the next day we had a trip to the Te Papa history museum.
On the way back up to Auckland we stopped again in Taupo for one night where we watched James do a bungy jump in the pouring rain and being dipped head first into the freezing cold lake below! We gave our grandma and grandpa a ring that night and said happy birthday to grandma for the day before. Then spent the night playing cards with more people from our bus.
We arrived back in Auckland early afternoon the following day at the end of our Kiwi Experience adventure. We had an absolutely amazing, unfortgettable experience of New Zealand, and now it was time to say goodbye and move on to Australia for the next leg of our trip.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Things we have ticked off our list in New Zealand......
* Viewed beautiful scenery from the movies - The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe and The Lord of the Rings
* Learnt about Maori tradition
* Black water rafting, abseiling, climbing up underground waterfalls
* Canyon swing
* Bungy jump
Things we almost ticked off our list......
* Glacier hike
* Swimming with dolphins
- comments