Where's Flipper?! We set off in good time for Kaikoura on the East Coast of South Island on our new quest to see Flipper and his friends. Ju had booked us on a swimming with dusky dolphins tour in the Pacific Ocean at 12.30pm - apparently they are the most acrobatic breed of dolphins in existence and known for their aerial displays. Kaikora is an ideal place to view wildlife as the sea waters are spectacularly deep just off the coast as the sea bed drops away into a canyon. Also cold water currents from the southern seas bring in nutrient rich waters and food for the dolphins. Ju was upbeat and excited at the prospect of swimming with dolphins whilst I was a little nervous at getting sea sick. The journey to Kaikoura was pretty scenic and straight forward to drive. It took around two hours to get there giving us plenty of time for lunch. However I didn't think it was a good idea to eat before our pending boat trip.

I was glad I had just a muesli bar for lunch. Our tour guide informed us that there had been a heavy to medium swell out to sea that morning. Luckily it had dropped to a medium swell, but they were still issuing a sea sickness warning - great! I remained quiet as we tried out our wetsuits and snorkelling gear. Putting on a restrictive wetsuit didn't help my pre tour nerves - it was hot and I felt sick even before getting on the boat. We were debriefed and subsequently loaded onto one of three boats. Luckily we had the smaller of the three which should make the ride on the sea easier.

Launched into the sea we set off to dolphin territory. Look out Flipper we're on our way. The sea was rough but the boat ploughed on with it's 300hp engines smashing through the waves. My stomach felt a bit topsy turvy like when you go over a hump back bridge in a car without expecting it. After 10 minutes I settled down and tried to take in the scenery. It was refreshing to see that Ju had followed me to the back of the boat where there's less bounce as she was feeling vulnerable to the effects of sea sickness too. However our nerves were soon to fade as we reached the dolphin hotspot.

Masks on, snorkel on, flippers on... we made our way to the back of the boat ready to enter the water upon the sound of the boat's air horn. I was keen to get going - forgetting my nerves the horn sounded and we plopped into the water one by one. The cold of the Pacific didn't hit like I thought it would. We had been briefed on how to swim and attract the dolphins. This involved swimming with hands beside your body whilst making noises through our snorkels. I adopted a high pitch 'raaaarrrrr' through my mouth piece - I was trying to be different in an attempt to attract all the dolphins. I hadn't realised there were around 300 plus in the area we were in. Luckily I only managed to attract 3 dolphins which swam around me three times at arms length. AMAZING. I made eye contact with one as instructed and watched as it playfully moved around me. These creatures where truly fast and manouvered very quickly - I felt like a whale... and I probably looked like one to them!

We entered the water on three separate occasions during our allotted time on the tour. On one occasion I saw Ju launch off the boat and immediately dive downwards like she was diving for pearls. That was the last I saw of her - until I heard her shouting at me a little later on.. "Scott, Scott". We felt like children. I took the opportunity to sit up and watch dolphins jumping out the water, swim under me, and swim past me. Dolphins everywhere and it looked as if they were as excited as us. We eventually boarded the boat cold and satisfied with beaming smiles on our faces. We had an opportunity to take some photos on deck. We watched the dolphins skip and jump all around us. We couldn't help but laugh at times. The journey back was even rougher. We watched several members on our tour throw up into buckets. This didn't dampen our mood as we reflected on the day.

The afternoon drive to Hanmer Springs was perfect. I kept stopping to snap away at the beautiful vistas. The sun was shinning and everything looked green and lush. We listened to Neil Young LOUD on the stereo occasionally glancing across at each other to smile. Our van was turning out to be a knackered old dog. Earlier in the day I had noticed the door open signal on the dash. Ju got out to check but every door seemed shut. As we drove on I opened my door with the intention of slamming it shut to put out the warning light. To my surprise the complete panel to the door along with levers and door handle came off in my hand. Initially I was annoyed and shouted at Ju to stop nagging and panicking as surely I COULD FIX THIS. I pulled over and reattached the panel - although it probably needs a mechanic to fix it properly. 10 minutes later we relived the moment in fits of laughter - I was crying along with Ju at the comical moment the door fell apart in my hands. That will be a memory to treasure along with the dolphin experience when we are old and grey. Good day.