Day 71 - Fri 9th Jan -Kaikoura

Another 8am bus departure this morning to leave Christchurch for the final time and head to Kaikoura.

Kaikoura is famous for two things 1) dolphins 2) whales. The reason we had decided to go to Akaroa to see the dolphins the day before is because they were predicted bad storms to the nexy two days....the two days I was going to be in Kaikoura!

The weather wasn't too bad on the way up and I got booked on the swimming with dolphins tour in the afternoon, I literally had 10 mins to drop my bags in the hostel and head straight out.....with everything crossed!!

After arriving at the dolphin place it takes about 40 mins to get ready after getting fitted in wetsuits and watching a video on how to behave around the dolphins and how to swim in a 'dolphin like way'!

We had a 5 min bus journey to the port to get on the boat, and then we had about a half hour journey on the boat to find the dolphins. I could not believe my eyes when I first saw them, there were hundreds! They were everywhere, and extremely acrobatic with somersaults and flips - incredible.

They then get you to position yourself on a ledge on the back of the boat (all kitted up with wetsuits snorkels and flippers), then they blow a whistle to signal when you should jump in the water. We were in the water for about 5-10 minutes as the dolphins swim towards you, around you, with you, then get bored and swim off again. Then its back on the ledge of the boat, over take the dolphins, then back in the water to do it all over again. We did this about 6 times and it was incredible, they are so close to you and there are so many of them. You are not alowed to touch them but one of them actually touched me and brushed past my leg.

After the final swim they get you back on the boat, get out of the wetsuits then they catch up with the dolphins for one final time in order to give the swimmers time to actually watch them from the boat and get the opportunity to take photos.

I had taken an underwater disposable camera with me and was praying that at least one photo would come out. But it would probably be a few days before I was in one place long enough to get them developed.

It took about 4 hours door to door and was absolutely incredible. The most amazing thing I had ever done in my life.

I celebrated in the evening with some fish and chips and a bottle of wine in the hostel with Rosan. Then it was an early night as I had a very very very early start the next day to go whale watching.

Day 72 - Sat 10th Jan - Kaikoura

Up at 5.30m to check in for the 6.15am whale watching trip. Checked in and then had a 40 min wait in the cafe before the boat departs (why get everyone to check in so early???). Decided it was not a good idea to have breakfast so just had a fruit juice and water.

Eventually we get on the boat and the second the boat pulls away you could tell it was going to be a bumpy ride. I have come to the conclusion that this has quite a lot to do with the actual design of the boat.

The further out to sea we got, the bigger the waves got and the more bumpy the ride was. It wasn't long before people started being sick.

About 20 mins in the skipper stopped the boat and put a sonic microphone thing (?) in the water to try to hear for whales. Nothing. Sped off again for about 5 mins to a new location, more people being sick. Microphone again. Nothing. New location, very big waves, more people being sick, no whales.

This was repeated about 4 or 5 times, a good 50% of the people on the boat were now throwing up. I spent the whole time staring out the window, breathing deeply concentrating hard on not throwing up and being very pleased with myself for not having a breakfast as the people around me were re-visting theirs.

I think this might be a problem with being the first boat of the day as they have the task of trying to locate where the whales are, whereas at least the subsequent boats have the benefit of the earlier boats experience.

However, we were able to hear the skippers radio and had already heard that the other boats had been cancelled becuase of the weather and the dolphin watch had also cancelled their boats.

But this point I, and I suspect everyone else on the boat, couldn't careless about the whales and just wanted to get back on solid and dry land.

When we were told that the last attempt had failed and that due to the weather closing in (?? er I think it was already there) we were going to have to abandon the search and head back, the relief was completely palpable around the boat!

So we sped off, very fast, very bump, more people being sick. Then we started slowing down and I presumed that was because we were nearly there (although looking out the window was telling me different). After 10 mins the skipper disappeared to the back of the boat and left one of the guides in charge of the boat. About a minute after he returned, we were informed that one of the engines had failed and that was why were were going slowly, and it would take an extra half an hour to get back to shore. That went down well.

Eventually we got back, got our 80% refund as we did not see any whales - and I was back in bed by 10.30am!!

After a couple of hours I got up (again) and headed into town for a bit of lunch, shopping and internet cafe. In the evening I tried to watch a film in the hostel but after 6 attempts could not get any DVDs or videos to work, so went to bed!

At this point I also discovered that my brand new mobile phone wasn't working. After charging it up over night I could now not switch it on.

Not the best day, but the dolphins more than made up for that.