Saturday 30th January 2010, Christchurch to Kaikoura

Today we were heading back to Kaikoura before taking the boat the following day to Wellington, so essentially toady was our last day in the South Island and what a great end to our time in the South Island!

With a great nights sleep under our belts, although Caroline might beg to differ on that one after I woke her up at 2:45am worried about what time it was, we were picked up by Kiwi Experience at 7:45am. Another early one but at least we were fresh and NOT hung over!

The initial drive was for about an hour and then we stopped for a spot of breakfast.Jane was also on our bus at least we knew someone on the bus today. After our breakfast stop we were back on the bus and then arrived in Kaikoura at about 11:30am. On arrival the driver took us all around to the seal colony. Unfortunately today there was only 1 seal but it was low tide so they were obviously all out fishing or feeling lazy so using the rocks nearer the ocean. Thankfully we had seen them before which was good. So after a quick stop here it was round to the hostel, quick check in and into our bikinis for our DOLPHIN SWIM!!!!

Because it was cancelled last time we were here we had made a point of pre booking just so we were guaranteed, weather pending! Thankfully for us it was a beautiful blue skied day. So after re meeting up with Jane (she was at a different hostel) we all headed down to Dolphin Encounter which is the one and only place in Kaikoura that operates Dolphin swimming. Because of the strict permit regulations they are the only company allowed to operate dolphin swimming in the area, which is why it's so hard to get on!!! And then on arrival we met up accidently with Melissa, a Dutch girl we became friendly with on the west side of the South Island and she was dolphin swimming as well.

So after we had been checked in and wet suited up it was onto a bus and round to South bay to meet the boat. They run this trip 3 times a day, on this day they had seen 900 dolphins on the 5:30am trip and then 400 on the 8:30am trip so we had high expectations and we were not to be disappointed!!

On the way out the boat stopped a couple of times when there large groups of fish on the surface all going for the same smaller fish. They included barracudas and it was pretty cool to watch as there were so many of them.And then the dolphins started to appear, firstly it was just the smaller groups but then word came over the radio of where the main pod was so off we went to find them and all swimmers chomping at the bit ready to go!

The dolphins in Kaikoura are mainly the Dusky dolphins and they are known for there amazing acrobatics and show off style whilst having fun! It is also common to see the Common Dolphin as well but today we just saw the Dusky dolphin which with the amount there were was absolutely amazing!!Once the crew had located the main pod the captain got the boat in front of them and then on the sound of the safety horn all the swimmers jumped in. And what an amazing thing it was, Caroline and I were some of the first to jump in so we got the full impact of all 400 dolphins swimming straight at us! It was awesome. Some of them just swam straight through us all but quite a few stuck around for a bit playing and swimming all around us. We were all told before we went in that the 3 main things to do when going in if you want the dolphins to stick about is,

a)Sing (I know, 13 people swimming about with snorkels in there mouth whilst trying to sing was quite hilarious but it did pay off.

b)Dive down with the dolphins as much as you can as they are very intelligent creatures so therefore interaction is good.

c)Try and make eye contact and basically swim around next to them as much as you can. This did at times include swimming round and round in circles.

There is a strict no touch policy though as ultimately they are a wild animal and it's not fair on them.

I know I keep staying it but the whole experience was amazing and they honestly look like their smiling whilst swimming along and playing. We didn't see any sad looking dolphin's just very happy playful ones. The whole process we repeated about 3 times. So basically once the main pod had moved on and the playful ones had gotten bored and moved on the horn would go off and we all would get back on the boat but stay on the lower platform ready for the next time. Although each time was the same it was just as good each time as well.

After the 3 different times of getting in front of the pod and then jumping in with them it was then time to join the spectators and do some dam good photo taking. Just watching the whole pod moving along with all the jumping and spins was fab to watch, and so many of them got so close to the boat even to the point of following us when we were moving. It was fantastic!!! Just in case I haven't said enough it was an absolutely amazing experience!!!

On the way back to the harbor we all given Hot chocolate (needed as the water was pretty chilly!) and ginger biscuits (good for seasickness.). Once back on land we loaded back on to the bus and were taken back to the office where we were given a small envelope with a info leaflet and a complimentary postcard. Once we all changed we all had a hot drink and cold drink with a sweet treat at the café before making our way back to the hostel. On the way back to the hostel we all went to the internet café as Melissa had had an underwater camera so we were all sharing the cost and sharing the photos so we had to go and copy them.

Dinner tonight was a BBQ. The driver of the bus had asked anyone who wanted to, to contribute $5 and she would do a whole heap of salads, bread and dips and then we would provide our own meat. Because there were the 4 of us we shared the meat and for a great $5 we all had a steak and sausage to go with the salads. Also on offer was some free crayfish which some of the guys had caught whilst fishing. I'm not if we mentioned in our last Kaikoura blog but Kaikoura in Maori actually mean to eat crayfish and as the name implies Kaikoura is the home of crayfish. But to get it free is even better!!!

After dinner we had a few beers (I say we, I mean Caroline, Melissa and I as Jane doesn't drink) and some wine before heading to The Strawberry Tree Pub where we had heard there was a good local band on. They were pretty good and we ended up staying probably a lot longer than we should have. So as you can guess it was quite a late one but some new Kiwi Army friends made tonight and a very funny night with Melissa. Melissa is lovely but very blunt and to the point, she basically doesn't take fools easily, but very funny to listen to!!

So people that was our last day in the South island of New Zealand and what an AMAZING day it was!!! See you on the North Island xxxxx