Advertisement
Published: March 12th 2009
Edit Blog Post
Akaroa Harbour
Barely a cloud in the sky After a six hour journey i arrived in Christchurch for the 2nd time, i caught a bus to Chris's house and was let in by his little brother as everyone else was at work but when they all got back they gave me a really warm welcome and we caught up on what I'd been up to and what they'd been doing. I also made plans for the next day as i wanted to go to Akaroa to swim with dolphins, i managed to convince Marie (Chris's girlfriend) to come with me if i paid for the petrol down there and we called up and booked two places. The following day i got my stuff ready and Marie and i drove to Akaroa, the drive down there was really nice and didn't take very long and we arrived just before 12. I was reluctant to book the dolphin swim for that day as the weather forecast said it was meant to be really cold and raining but through some miracle or maybe karma for the rain in Dunedin, the sky was clear and the sun was shining.
After a quick briefing we got into our wetsuits and got on the
Wind swept & beautiful
Marie sporting some lovely bug eye sun glasses and me looking not so great after getting a nice face full of salt water boat and our guide explained that the dolphins we were looking for were the Hectors dolphin which are the smallest and rarest dolphins in the world and they're only found New Zealand, she also explained that they go around in relatively small pods of around 5 or 6 and the females grow to a max size of about 1.4m and the males grow to only 1.2m, because they are completely wild there was no guarantee we would see any and even if we saw some it didn't necessarily mean we would get to swim with them as they might not be interested in us. We sailed out of the bay towards the sea and after 10 minutes or so we saw our first glimpse of the dolphins but they didn't seem very interested so we carried on sailing. After not so long we saw some more dolphins and they looked a lot more friendly so we got into the water and splashed around because we were told the more excited we seemed the more likely the dolphins would be interested in us but after bobbing up and down in the very cold sea for 10 minutes they still hadn't come
over so we got back in the boat and had a hot cup of Milo (Its tastes like hot chocolate and horlicks mixed together) and went looking for more. We got quite a few swimming along side us but then they'd disappear so after an hour or so we headed back to shore and as we didn't manage to swim with them we were given a partial refund, but i wasn't disappointed at all because i got to see loads of dolphins and i had a really good time and if they had came straight up to the boat and waited for us to get in the water then they obviously would have been tamed a little by human interaction and its far better for them to be totally wild.
Once we got out of our wetsuits and had a hot shower we went to a chip shop next door and had Hoki (A type of fish) Chips and a battered hot dog for lunch washed down with a bottle of L&P (Lemon & Paeroa) which is a new Zealand fizzy drink similar to Dandelion & Burdock. On the drive home me and Marie were talking about all the
As close as i got
Unfortunately this was as close as i got to a Hector Dolphin differences between New Zealand and England like the fact that car insurance is optional for them and anyone can drive anyone else car, before long we were back at their house and there were loads of people round because Chris's mum had decided to cook me a New Zealand style going away meal and invited lots of people round that i had met at Chris's birthday party. We had a full roast with Lamb (New Zealand of coarse) chicken and pork and all the normal veg but with pumpkin and Kumara which is a Nz sweet potato. It was delicious and i ate it all and went back for seconds, after dinner we sat and watched a movie then went to bed as i had to get up at 6 the next morning! I had a really great day and it was nice to see everyone again, but it was sad knowing i had to leave in the morning. Chris's mum being the fantastic lady she is drove me to the coach stop at 6 in the morning and we said our goodbyes. I'm so glad i met Chris and his family and i was sad to leave them but
I'm definitely coming back at some point to see more of them and more of Nz.
P.s I'm waiting on a group photo of Chris and his family as i forgot to take one when i was there so i'll put that on here when i get it
Advertisement
Tot: 0.091s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 8; qc: 24; dbt: 0.0271s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1mb