May 04, 2006
Dolphin queen
Ok, I should write this right now: just 3 hours ago we were swimming with the dolphins!!! We were in Kaikoura, a spot in the North of South Island that is especially popular with all kinds of marine wildlife.
Yesterday we spent 3 hours in the boat, searching for dolphins, but the tour guides couldn't locate them anywhere. Today we packed up to leave Kaikoura and just for the hell of it dropped by to the tour office. And, of course, of course, they've seen the dolphins in the morning and we missed that boat.
Anyway, it worked out even better for us, because we jumped on the next boat and they already knew where the dolphins were!
Its been pretty chilly for last couple of days here, so I didn't feel so hot about swimming in the open sea (the water is maybe some 13-14C degrees cold). However when we finally saw the dolphins, I just got so excited that I forgot all about it (and everything else, like closing my wet suit properly).
Of course, some more of kiwi fashion helped a lot!!! We're getting pretty stylish here!!!
It was just one of the most unbelievable experiences that I ever had in my life. I never expected to see so many dolphins in one pod (they say its about 180 of them in that particular group!). And once you get down to the water, they just start swimming around, approaching you from all directions and inviting to play. They are completely wild and untrained, so its hard to believe how playful and curious animals they are!
Of course, we tried to entertain them as well, by circling with them and singing. Yes! Singing! They seemed to get particularly excited when you sing something in high pitched voice through your snorkel. Kaj was entertaining them with some Christmas carols and I was singing the "sumertime.. and the living is easy.. fish are jumping..." etc...
They are so cool, when you start circling with them, they try to swim faster to outswim you! So competitive! And definitely very interested! We almost missed this oportunity, so its ten times more precious experience, as we didn't expect anything anymore...
Kaikoura is famous not only for its husky dolphins, but also for whales, albatroses, fur seals and sea lions. We went seal "hunting" one afternoon. They're just sleeping on the rocks, completely uninterested in humans snapping photos with their cameras. Well, it was a different wildlife experience.
And, of course, since we're in NZ, a very frequent form of wildlife is... sheep, of course.. :) Its scary at times to see these innocent animals walking just by the edge of the cliff that has 100m drop. What a happy life!
Kaikoura itself is a very beautiful town (or should I rather say that the nature around it is beautiful?)
There's good surfing beaches and beautiful snowcapped mountains around it.
And, obviously, there's a lot of good fresh seafood in local restaurants here, I tried crayfish (some sort of huge lobster) as it is a speciality of Kaikoura. Kaj had lamb (yes one of those innocent ones, my vegetarian self has to confess that I had a bite of that too... Nam!)
Before Kaikoura we were in Greymouth at the West Coast which was a surprisingly good place to be. We ended up staying there for 2 nights. The weather was spectacular and almost summerish (here's almost a full round of seasons in one week for you.. :)
For some reason these cliffs in Punakaiki are very popular with tourists.
It looks like pancakes stacked on top of each other, but why is it so amazingly popular I really don't have a clue. We've seen much more spectacular things in here...
Like this river valley, just 1km away from the "popular" rocks.
Kaj especially liked it, he thought it looks like Jurassic Park. And it certainly does with all these ferns and primordial plants in a limestone canyon. Its pretty amazing, how different the nature is, if you drive some 100km to one side or the other.
Now we're on the way to Christchurch again. Tomorrow I'm flying to Auckland for one day, for a job interview, I hope the future will become clearer after that. Stay tuned. :)
Posted by gkligyte at May 4, 2006 01:46 PM