Hi Guys,

As you can see I have made my way up through the south island and into Wellington.  It's been a week since my update from Queenstown, and I have done a fair bit of travelling in this time.  Here is a summary of my past week.

On Friday, I was awoken by the sound of the rain pounding against my dorm window.  Indeed I looked out and even though it was 7.30am, it was still dark!  The clouds were thick and the rain showed no signs of letting up for the day.  Oh well I thought, looks like I wont see much of Wanaka after all.  Regardless I made my way to the bus and did my 2 hour journey to Wanaka.  After checking in I decided to check a few emails for 30 minutes, and I am not joking I was pleasantly surprised upon leaving the cafe.  The sun was shining and pretty much all of the clouds had burnt through.  It was bizarre and I had to check my watch to see how long I was in there for.  Wasting no time and pleased with my rather good fortune, I set out on my 5 hour trek by the lake.  The scenery was sublime, with the calm lake and the snow capped mountains off in the distance.  A very enjoyable stroll!

The next day, Saturday, was a rather dull day to be honest.  I had to make my way from Wanaka to Christchurch which was quite a fair distance.  Which meant travelling by bus, or 3 to be more precise, a journey that took up much of the day!  I arrived after 6.30pm and by 7 the next morning I was once again on a bus to Kaikoura.  Kaikoura is a small fishing town at the north of the South Island, and a well known spot for its abundant marine wildlife.  I decided the first stop I would check out was the information centre, and after about 2 minutes I saw a perfect trip for me... a chance to swim with dolphins in the wild.  This is something I have wanted to do for years, and I promptly signed up for the trip leaving the next day.

So on Monday morning, I get myself up early and made my way to the Dolphin Encounter Centre, ready and eager for what I was about to do.  I was so excited i felt like a kid at Christmas.  Upon arriving we were all measured up for our wetsuits and gear and were made to watch a short video all about the dolphins etc.  As they specialize in tours with swimming with the dolphins in the wild, they said again and again that the dolphins are the ones who need to be entertained.  So to encourage the dolphins you have to do one of three things... 1) swim below the surface 2) swim around in circles or 3) make lots of silly noises.  Briefing over we made our way to the boat and proceeded into the ocean for about 30 minutes, before we entered the near freezing water (10 degrees!).   As I say the water was the coldest I have ever encountered but as there were literally about 30 dolphins all around us, I certainly did not care.  For about 10 minutes I entertained about 10 at the same time with my silly noises and spins. It was incredible and I loved it.  Even though I was unbelievably cold I did not want the experience to end. 

Later on once back on land, I found myself still shivering so I made my way back to the hostel whereby I sat in the hot tub for about 2 hours.  It was heaven!  That evening was a tad bizarre, as I first watched a film with a German who proceeded to give my running commentary of every single scene!  I had to grin and bear it for 2 and a half bloody long hours.  Then attempting to be a bit more sociable with other guests (anything to get me away from the annoying German) I chatted to this drunk middle-aged Australian lady, who is one of these people who invade your personal space lets say.  She was literally about an inch away from my face, and her chardonnay breath was enough to make me feel ill, we chatted for about 10 minutes.  In that time she asked me 3 times where I was from, and twice my opinion on royalty.  It was like bloody groundhog day!  After that I went for an early night.

The next day, Tuesday was another long and tiring day travelling.  I made my way from Kaikoura to Picton and then boarded the ferry across the Cook Straight into Wellington.  I was worn out by the time I checked into my hostel and decided to have a chilled out night.

Yesterday, I got up early as I was eager to see the city.  The good thing is that after 6 months the initial excitement about a new place is still there!  I made my way to the cable car ride up the hill to the Botanical Gardens.  This was cool as the view from the top was great and it allowed me to get my bearings.  As I was there, I decided to take a stroll around the gardens, and it seemed wherever I went I ended up at an exit point, which was amusing and frustrating at the same time.  After this I made my way down into the city and took a nice stroll along the harbour which was bloody windy.  Wellington by all accounts has been likened to Chicago as the 'windy city of the southern hemisphere'.  In my 20 minute stroll I had to play,'chase the hat' 4 times!  Which was a tad amusing.  I am sure you are thinking that after the first time, why didn't I take my cap off!  Well hindsight is a wonderful thing!  hehe

Later on that afternoon I decided to check out the Te Papa which is a massive museum covering 6 floors on everything you can imagine from immigration to nature to natural distastes.  It was a great museum and I easily killed 3 hours roaming around the various exhibits.  Pretty cool and it did not cost me a single cent.

Ok this now leaves me onto today, I decided that I would have a little lie in for a change before I made my way to the Wellington Zoo.  I realized that even though I have passed through many places on my travels with a zoo, I had not yet been to one!  The zoo was pretty interesting with all the animals that you would expect to see. 

Tomorrow I am hitting the road again onto Lake Taupo which is near the middle of the island and is renowned as the skydiving capital of the world..  Since i survived my paragliding, skydiving is the next logical step, right? 

Anyway, I hope everyone reading this is well and I hope I have not bored you too much with this one.

Cheers,
Jon