My oldest friend & two of her darling children dropped me off on a chilly Wednesday morning at the Magic stop at the crack of dawn to jump onto the hop on hop off to head up to Kaikura for Whale watching or Dolphin swimming options on the way to Picton & the North Island. I was kind of in two minds whether I wanted to do it because the water was going to be cold & choppy & I was feeling a little car sick but the weather cleared a bit when we got to Kaikura & the car sick stopped when I got off the bus of course so I thought what the hell - once in a lifetime chance. Got to go for it & my word am I SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO grateful that I did.
I took my motion sickness tablet before we went so I felt like a million dollars & we were 2 groupsof 10 that each had a chance to go into the FREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEZING water which was more amazing than I can put into words. The dolphins were literally swimming around us close enough to touch (not that I did) & leaping into the air right in front of me. Such a hugely humbling experience. Lucky for me the first group got the dolphins at their best & then we got to stand around the boat wathcing them dive under the boat, swim past, flip around us. Soooooo good.
I also cannot explain how cold it was. We had wetsuits which did not stop the water getting in but warmed it up as soon as it got in so it was only really feet, face & hands that were really close to falling off but it was just worth it for the experience. Giving the chance to freeze again I would be there like a bear.
How incredibly lucky are we to get to share this earth with these magnificent creatures :-)
We headed into town in the evening to meet 2 Dutch guys that were on the boat with us for a couple of games of pool and landed up chatting until 3.30am. Needless to say I was not the biggest bundle of beans the following day when we hopped on the ferry to cross over the Cook Straight to Wellington. I was fortunate enough to sleep for most of the three hours. Of course that did mean that I missed some glorious scenery but I have another 2 trips coming up so I am sure I can see them then.
What an amazing day to start my trip off in New Zealand. Wooohooooooooo!!!
