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The Kuari tree musuem was good, I know as much as I ever want to know about the kuari tree now :-) From there we drove back accross to Paihia on the east coast for me to do my swim with dolphins again after the boat broke down last week. I booked in to do the Bay cruise and dolphin swim on Wednesday morning, but when we got up the windy weather had followed us from the west. The cruise went ahead anyway but they did warn that due to the choppy conditions we may be unable to get in the water to swim with dolphins.
After about 30 minutes on the boat we located a pod of dolphins but they had a juvenille in the group so we were unable to swim with them, but they just swam with the boat, playing in front and at the sides, it was good to see them so close.
We left them after about 20 minutes to look for another pod, luckily about 20 minutes later we found another pod. They decided it was ok to go in the sea and swim with them. They advised that due to conditions you would need to be a confident swimmer and preferably go in with out a wetsuit as it would restrict your swimming. So they gave us a snortel, mask and fins and in we went, my god it was cold. I was in there for about 2 minutes before I could breathe properly, but as soon as the dolphins swam right underneath me and right by the side of me it was worth it, I swam with them for about 40 minutes. Swimming with
dolphins is an amazing experience I would definately recommend, but possibly in warmer, calmer seas.
This is definately in my top 10 things I've ever done. Then as we made our way back to Paihia we saw a humpback whale with her cub, which is apperently quite rare in this area.
After the dolphin swim we drove down the coast to Whangarei and camped overnight there and then made our way to the Coromandels on Thursday. The drive along the west Coromandel coast is stunning, its a lot light highway 1 between LA and San Francisco.
We stayed in a small place named Tapu and tomorrow (Friday) we will make our way up to Coromandel town.
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Julie Didn't Dai take a photo of you with the dolphins? Jo will be soooooooo jealous : )