I was kind of glad to be leaving party town Queenstown and head to a bit more quiet territory... We took a I believe 8 hour bus drive from Queenstown to Christchurch stopping at stunning Lake Punakaki where you get some beautiful views of Mount Cook.. I can't describe the colour of the lake but it is such a cool blue.. I am amazed by the different colours of water that I have seen in NZ. Turquoise, blue, cristal clear... all really beautiful. We pretty much arrived late afternoon in Christchurch and I just relaxed a bit... decided to book an all girls room after the night before I ended up in a room with a Scot, and English, an Argentinan and a Swiss... The next day we had an early start heading north to Kaikoura which is famous for whale watching and dolphins... Despite the warning of 'severe sea sickness' I was ever so keen to take up the opportunity to swim with wild Dusky Dolphins. So me and a Swiss Italian from my group joined the tour.. so glad he came along as it turned he would be my sea sickness saviour carrying all my stuff back.. anyways lets get to the cool part first/ So about 10 of us went out on a boat into the ocean and once they locate t5he Dusky Dolphins in we went into the water.. pretty cold but at least we all had those charming dry suits on. to attract the dolphins you have to sign to them which is pretty funny given that you try to sing with a snorkel in your mouth. but it does magic. the dolphins come really close less than a meter and swim driectly in front of you or around you. AMAZING. I mean its completly wild animals. an incredible experience... well that was until about hald way through the second time that we went into the water and I started feeling the rather rough sea and swollowed lots of salt water... that didn't go down too well with the stomach. So for the rest of the trip I was hugging the bucket while watching the dolphins and a really cool seal which decided to have his meal right in front of us... cool stuff... Once we came back they gave us an info brochure.. I browsed through it and read: orca whales hunt the dolphins pretty much in the same area where we were swimming... I must say I am glad they told us that after the trip and not before it ;) so I pretty much just about made it back to the hostel and collapsed in bed feeling super sick for the rest of the day... and that was Kaikoura.... today we headed north I seperated from the group who took the ferry to the north island and went further on to Nelson. Tomorrow I want to walk in the National park ( Abel Tasman) which is supposed to be stunning. Staying in a really cute hostel with super friendly staff and which seems to be failry quiet... maybe a chance to finally catch up on some sleep. it's really sunny here which is nice after the rather cool last few days.. just came back from the cinema.. couldn't resist wathcing 'New Moon'.
Hope you are all well
Stef
