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After the rafting trip I passed straight through Christchurch and headed up to Kaikoura which is a small town on the east coast of the south island about 2 hours north of Christchurch. The setting for Kaikoura is very scenic with a snow capped mountain range visible from the beach, however the reason that so many people head there is because of the large amounts of marine wildlife that can be seen there. This is because there is a deep undersea trench close to the coastline that means that animals that usually feed far out to sea can get there deep sea prey close to the shore. The area is famous for whale, dolphin, seal and albatross watching, There is also the chance to swim with wild dusky dolphins in the area, there can be hundreds of dolphins around at one time and they are totally wild, but will sometimes come and investigate and play with people swimming in the water. On the dolphin swimming trip went out on boats kitted out in thick wetsuits and snorkeling gear, the guides have a good idea where the dolphins will be and use information from other boats to find the dolphins, when
they are around everyone jumps in the water and tries to make themselves interesting to a dolphin! Shouting and singing down your snorkel and diving underwater are two methods that work well. The dolphins are totally in charge and if they don’t want to play they will just swim past or swim off if they want to be left alone, which is really good because it means we have a very limited impact on the dolphins and also any encounters you do have are with wild dolphins on their terms. We had to jump in and out of the water a few times as the dolphins were moving quickly around the bay but had some really great experiences as they swam around underneath me and even circled me for a few turns. At one point I looked above the surface and saw four fins heading towards me and then looked down to see them cruising slowly right underneath me - really magical experience!
After a couple of nights in Kaikoura headed back down to Christchurch, spent a couple of days there, it is a very english city with the river Avon flowing through the middle where you can even
have a trip being punted down the river. Highlight for me was a trip to the Antarctic centre which is an based on the site that the New Zealand and American Antarctic programs use as a staging post for all operations down in antarctica. The centre was very interesting for me as I have always been interested in Antarctica and the history of the explorers etc. They have a cold room where they simulate a storm with windchill down to minus 28 degrees celcius, also get to ride on a hagluund which is an all terrain amphibious vehicle they use on the ice and can handle some pretty rough terrain (they just use a track built on site with steep hills and stuff to show what the machine can do.
After a couple of days in Christchurch I hired a car and headed out to Arthurs Pass, this is a village on a mountain pass on a road through from the east to west coast. Pretty stunning scenery driving from the flat plains around Christchurch and then climbing into the mountains. Stayed the night in Arthurs Pass and did a couple of walks in the mountains including Avalanche Peak
which was a really great walk that is quite a scramble and the top is rocky, jagged and quite exposed making it very dramatic. Luckily weather was great again making it a great day. From Arthurs pass I carried on out to the west coast to complete the drive and meet a friend (Aleks from Poland) I met in Mt Cook who was travelling up the west coast. We spent a couple of days seeing more of the west coast at leisure by car rather than on the bus schedule. Even went for a swim in the sea which was pretty chilly but great fun. We then headed back along the road to Christchurch through the mountains with a couple of detours and overnight stops along the way. Really nice not to be rushing and have time to explore the area a bit. Some strange rock formations at a place called Castle Hill near the town of Springfield (yeah does exist and spent the night there), basically there are lots of huge boulders strewn over the fields in Castle Hill which make for quite a dramatic landscape.
Arrived back in Christchurch for a couple of nights before my flight
from New Zealand, spent the time checking out more of the city including the museum and a karakoke bar, where we didn’t sing as the standard was reasonably high and didn’t really want to showcase my amazing talents!!
So after over 5 months in New Zealand it was time to head off to Australia, I had a fantastic time in New Zealand, really felt at home there and will definitely be coming back here, hopefully to live for a few years in the future.
So that’s all for now, I am now staying around Melbourne before heading up the east coast of Australia to Cairns.
Sweet as bro as they say in Kiwi land.
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