Dusky & Hector Dolphins and back to Wellington

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5th - 20th November 2008-

For the next few days we relaxed and kicked back on Jimmy Armers Beach in Kaikoura, it’s up with my favourite places in New Zealand. We phoned home, checked the internet and decided to give Australia and complete miss and go to Goa, India instead. This is a much better plan as the costing for three and a half month in Australia scared the life out of us. Pili bless her spent the next few days on the phone and the net sorting out our re-scheduled flight, what a nightmare.

Most mornings for the next week I was up at dawn with camera in hand looking out for birds. I had a couple of nice surprises, a solitary Marsh Sand Piper visited, this is a very rare visitor to these shores. I also watched the daily routine of a pair of Paradise Shelducks, defending the territory for intruders. These charismatic ducks pair for life, all very sweet when you observe how tender they are with each other.

On Sunday the 9th we decided to go and take the tourist trip to swim with the Dusky Dolphins. I’d resisted up till now as it’s not really how I want to experience wildlife. However after many conversations with the locals, including fisherman and divers it seemed that Kaikoura Dolphin Adventures are the only people with licences to do the swim. They are also quite aggressive defending this monopoly according to some I spoke with. Oh well, we paid our money and went for it. Wrapped in our rubber wet suit and snorkels we took to bus trip to South Bay and our boat (I was ready for a night out in a German S&M club dressed like this). Within 20 minutes at sea we spotted a large pod of Dusky Dolphins. The boat stopped and I, Pili and about ten other people got in the water. Immediately upon putting my face in the water I had a Dusky Dolphin come up close to my face to check me out, then another and another, we were surrounded.

We swam the first time for about twenty minutes before the Dolphins got bored and left. How do I start to describe this experience without using all the obvious new age stuff? Well I could have spent days with these beautiful mammals, one look in the eyes and you know they are as curious about us as we are of them, you can he intellegence. I started singing to them through my snorkel, I sang one of my own compositions ‘You Take It All’, I had an immediate response, if Dolphins could buy cd’s I’d be famous, they seemed to really enjoy the audio communication. I could here Pili singing one of her made up Spanish songs (you guys know the ones I’m talking about, her caccaruta songs).

In all we swam in three different location with a pod of at least three hundred dolphins. It is something that will stay with me until I shuffle of this mortal coil, well worth every penny. You know we didn’t even feel the cold; the water was 12 degrees, which is bloody cold in anyone’s book. The adrenaline must have kept us warm. The only down side was that Pili got a little sea sick. She’d spent an hour spinning round and round chasing the Dolphins, I think thats want done her in. She heaved like a drunken cheerleader on prom night! Thankfully she got to a bucket in time on board the boat; puking into your diving mask would not have been fun. I was a good boy as I resisted taking photos while she was arched backed, head in a bucket dressed in her swimsuit, it would have been a great shot for the blog, I must be going soft!

After hot showers back at the head quarters Pili crashed out for a couple of hours, I’m not sure what tired her out the most, puking or Dolphins. She was obviously a lot better in the evening as she has Crayfish fritters st by the beach as we watched the sunset.

The next morning we headed for Christchurch, to check-in with JUCY rentals just to make sure everything was ok before we gave the van back. We also got our money back for the repairs on the chiller at the beginning of our trip.

On the way out of Kaikoura the sun was blazing, I told Pili to watch for Dolphins coming in close to shore in the warming waters along the coast. Approx 10km south we spotted a pod of a dozen or so Dolphins. Typical, we spend two months going around the coast of New Zealand always looking out for Dolphins and nothing, then the day after we swim with the buggers they appear as we're leaving. We filmed for approx half an hour, said our goodbyes then hit the road again. It felt as if they had come to say goodbye to us.

After dealing with Jucy in Christchurch we decided it might be worth a trip down to the peninsula to Akaroa to see if we can squeeze a trip out into the bay to see the critically endangered Hectors Dolphin. After a 70km winding road and some very steep hills through some spectacular scenery we arrived at the bay, everything was closed!!! Pili flicked through her rough guide and found a small piece about a backpackers lodge in Le Bons Bay. I made a quick phone and mentioned that I was also interested in a trip out to see the Dolphins. Gary the owner said he could take us out for $35.00 each, this is less the half of what we had been previously quoted. That settled it, we were off to Le Bons Bay.

When we arrived we found a beautiful country house and very English looking grounds. In the rough guide we read that the local beach was great for fresh mussels, we enquired and were given directions to the beach. Within 10 minutes we were knee deep in the surf collecting mussels for Pili's dinner, not me, yuk!

After dinner back at the lodge one of the resident girls started to tinker on the piano, this resulted in an hour’s impromptu jam session, I really enjoyed myself as I haven’t sung for a while and it’s something I really miss.

The next morning we had an 8am start. Within 10mins on the water a pod of four Hectors appeared and started swimming along side the boat. The Hectors Dolphin is the smallest of all Dolphins and definitely the rarest with numbers under a thousand. This was the last species on my New Zealand list. We stayed photographing for approx 40mins. This species seemed even more playful than the Dusky Dolphins. We also saw Australasian Gannets, Spotted Shag, New Zealand Fur Seals, a Royal Albatross and loads of White Fronted Terns diving for fish. The weather was sublime which made the viewing even more perfect.

After leaving Le Bons with our sincere gratitude we headed back to Christchurch and booked into our final campsite, you guessed it another Top 10.

We caught a pretty lame flight back to Wellington next day and Fiona, Pete’s missus collected us from the airport and gave us a scenic route back to the house. Our travels were almost done. Pete’s working in Sydney at the moment but he did come home for the weekend and we sank a few beers and some wine and duty free gin. It’s a real shame he’s not around, it might be a while until we see each other again.

On Sunday we drove out to Carterton for an athletics meet for Alice. Pete, Pili, Cameron, Dominic and I went for a splendid breakfast. In the afternoon we made our way to Castlepoint Lighthouse on the West coast and I gave Cameron his first fishing lesson. He got the hang of casting very quickly and spent the rest of the afternoon taking turns with his dad, alas no fish were caught, it was very sweet to see Pete doing father and son stuff though.

The rest of our stay in Wellington has been very pleasant. Fiona looked after us very well and we are very grateful. I have suffered with a cold but at least it’s gave me chance to finish this blog.

That’s just about it for New Zealand. In one way it seems we’ve been here forever and on the other hand the end has come too soon. We’re really going to miss this wonderful land with all the unique creatures, breathtaking scenery and warm people, I’m sure we’ll be back someday if only to hear the Tui & the Bellbird.

Next stop Sydney for two days with Pete and then Goa, India…….Keep tuned!

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Photos

Jimmy Armers Beach
Our home for a week at the end of our journey around the South Island
What follows is a selection of images from our little beach

Marsh Sand Piper
A rare migrant