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Kia Ora! (Hello, how are you, general greeting)
They say, time flies when you're having fun, and indeed time is flying!! The Kiwi adventure is nearing its end now. However, I still have about two weeks to cover in this blog. The last time I left you with the exciting plan to go swimming with the dolphins in Kaikoura. The weather wasn't that good but luckily we were allowed to go out on the boats, although everybody was advised to take motion sickness pills... I learnt my lesson from my Great Barrier Reef trip in Australia and Aniek and I took all precautions to not feel sick. We were alright although there were a view people whose faces started looking a little green, but luckily everyone was alright. As we were going to swim with wild dolphins, we had to find them first. The crew told us to look out for them and then there was the yell - we found a huge school of dusky dolphins, the most acrobatic specie of dolphins. From then it was all go, we were wearing our wetsuits, flippers went on and masks were sprayed with anti fog spray. Once we sat on the edge of the boat we realised how cold the water was, it was only 18 degrees and after being used to the sea being at least 26 degrees celsius this was something different! Aniek and I were quite nervous as just off the boat we could see hundreds of dolphins swimming around, and they are not that used to people! The trick was for us to attract them, so when we jumped off the boat we started singing songs through our snorkels (according to the crew people in Australia could've heard us singing) and swimming like we were dolphins ourselves. They came right up to you and the dolphins were all around us - it was definitly one of the most magical things I've ever done. The thing is, these animals are pretty smart and know you are around. They look you in the eye to check out what you're doing, swim up to you and follow you around for a bit. We were so lucky to jump off the boat five times (we followed the dolphins around) before we had to go back to the shore. At one point we were swimming next to a whale watching boat, in the open sea, which I did think was a bit worrying... However, the main preditor of the dolphins is the killer whale (or orca). There are only 200 killer whales swimming around New Zealand and they 'follow their food around', although the crew were sure they were not around as that was very rare and they only saw killer whales once every six weeks. When we were going back to shore the boat suddenly turned around because the skipper thought he saw 'something'. I thought it might be a sperm whale which would be good to see. But all of a sudden there he was, Free Willy in the wild. I could not believe my eyes (especially as we had just got out of the water and there was a 6 meter long killer whale just meters from our boat). Before we knew it there were four killer whales around our boat and we followed them around for about 45 minutes - even the crew couldn't believe their eyes! The wild life is just outrageous here! It was definitly one of the best days of my travels so far.
From Kaikoura we took the bus to Nelson, which is on the north coast of the south island. Nelson is just an hour away from Abel Tasman (that dutch guy who tried to discover NZ and turned around again) National Park, which is famous for hiking and sea kayaking. We took a bus to the park and did a 3hr hike through the park, and our plan was to kayak back. Normally speaking, the water of the Tasman sea is just like a mirror as it is sheltered by islands along the coast, which makes it ideal for sea kayaking. However, us being so lucky, it had just been full moon and the weather had been really bad which resulted in 3 meter high waves. We had no other option than to get on the kayak. Our guide ensured us we would be fine and that in his 2 year career only one of his boats had capsized. As soon as we got onto the sea we realised there was no way we were going to reach our starting point without capsizing. We had to kayak for 2 hours, paddling to save our lives and trying our hardest not to capsize on open sea. We though we nearly made it when we had to paddle towards the shore to try to get out. It was a bit like white water rafting but then in a kayak - no chance! We survived 4 breaking waves but then we lost control and there we went! Bikini's everywhere and Aniek was behind me in the kayak so she got to enjoy quite a pretty sight. We swam out and when we got to shore we discovered that fornutely we weren't the only ones who capsized. All in all it was a pretty adventurous day, to say the least! Or as the Kiwi's would say: sweet as!!!
From Nelson we took the ferry to the North Island, which again was a very bumpy ride with a lot of sick bags. The boat safely got to Wellington, New Zealand's capital, and from there we took the bus to Rotorua. Rotorua is a small town on the edge of a vulcanic crater lake. The whole town smells of rotten eggs because of all the gas coming from the lake! We got used to it for a while but when we left we did really need to wash our clothes... Unfortunately the weather in Rotorua wasn't really good due to a cyclone above the Pacific Ocean so we could only go to the spa one day. Also, we were able to attend a so called Hangi, or Maori dinner. We went to this Maori village where there was a display of traditional clothing and huts where the Maori people used to live. After seeing the Haka (the NZ national rugby team performs this before every match) we had a traditional Maori meal. It was very impressive and I didn't know a lot about the Maori people so this was an eye opener!
From Rotorua we spent a day in Mount Maunganui (see photo) where we wanted to go surfing but the rental company wasn't renting out any surf boards as the waves were too high.... You would think this is a good think, don't you? We ended up doing some more hiking and attended a yoga class which was a shock to our body. We were sweating like pigs and the teacher wasn't lenient at all. He made us hold our arms up for about 5 minutes and I can tell you, this is not very comfortable if you haven't been to the gym for over 2 months. Naturally we decided we have to work out more to stay fit, but this has been quite difficult in the past few days in paradise. Paradise in New Zealand is a place called Paihia, in the Bay of Islands. We planned to stay for 3 days but we got stuck in the aftermath of the cyclone (same one as before) so all the roads to the village got fludded or suffered land slides! Luckily we were able to do a day trip to Cape Reinga, which is a sacred place for the Maori's as they believe their deceised love ones leave NZ here to go to the underworld. We drove over ninety mile beach which made me think of driving the jeep on Frasier Island! On the way back we stopped for the best fish and chips I've had in ages - perfect ending to a perfect day! Because we stayed in the same hostel in Paihia for quite some days everyone became like one big family. Last Saturday we suffered such torrential rain that no one was able to leave and we watched four movies in our pyjamas. To make things even better, there was a Swedish Michelin star chef in our group who cooked for us the entire time! Well nice! I can think of worse places to get stuck in a cyclone!!
Overall, even though we had a bit of a rough start here in New Zealand, it has definitly grown on me. The scenery is phenomenal, the rainforest is just so beautiful and I never thought it could be so special to, for instance, be able to walk around 2000 year old Kaori trees being able to breath like you've never done before. The peace that fills you travelling this country is something I definitly need to keep hold of! I can recommend it to everyone as there is literally something for everyone in this country - beaches, rainforest, adventure, hiking and wildlife. Aniek and I are still enjoying ourselves to the fullest! Everyday there is at least one moment that we are not able to speak anymore because we are laughing that much, so I am not complaining :) Again, we've met so many amazing people travelling which open your eyes when it comes to different cultures and countries, which I find very inspiring. Right now, we're in Auckland getting ready for Chapter 3 of this adventure, South America. I'm sure it will be a bit of a shock when we arrive there, but definitly looking forward to it. First we have to cross the pacific ocean though - a 15hr flight!! Sorry if I haven't been able to reply to people's emails but I'll try my best to answer them all soon. See you on the other side of the pond!
Haere Ra Aotearoa (Goodbye, Land of the Long White Cloud)
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Mona Wat een mooie verhalen lief en wat leuk om te horen dat jij en anniek het nog zo gezellig hebben. Bikini's everywhere and Aniek was behind me in the kayak so she got to enjoy quite a pretty sight. - hilarisch!!!!
Daphna In NZ ligt ook de plaats met de tweede langste naam ter wereld Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateapokaiwhenuakitanatahu (wat betekent:De top van de heuvel waar Tamatea, de man met de grote knieën, die bergen neersloeg, beklom en verzwolg om het land door te trekken, gekend als de Landeter, speelde op zijn neusfluit voor zijn geliefde). Vet he! Veel plezier in SA lieverd, met die goddelijke latino's! wil mooie foto's! xxx