Something fishy going on...

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I decided to spend a night in Queenstown and did a hike up to the gondola where there's a luge to have a go on and a chance to take corners on two wheels. Also no policemen around to check your speed (I recently saw 4 different cars on the same day!) The views from the top were great and I got a free ride down in the gondola (cablecar) as no one was checking tickets :-)

Next day I headed off to tackle an overnight trek up the Rees-Dart track. I went up the River Dart and there was some wonderful views of the river and nearby Mount Earnslaw which I am told provided film locations for Isengard for "The Lord of the Rings." I stayed overnight in a hut and then came back the next day. The weather was still glorious so I sat at the jetty in Glenorchy at the head of Lake Wakatipu and escaped all the sandflies. A hearty dinner of sausage and chips completed the day!

I moved onto the Otago Peninsular the next day to the city of Dunedin where I have friends there from my JET days in Japan. Steve and Jucinda are doing up their house to sell it but didn't mind my tiptoeing round the paint pots - thanks guys! A quick look at the city when we went into the centre for Chinese New Year was followed by a trip to the peninsular the next day where I saw a flying albatross and plenty of seals. Steve took me out on a kayak trip in the harbour too although the water was much rougher than we had been anticipating. All good fun though!

I passed through Christchurch and stayed at a great hostel. Bought some trekking gear for Nepal and wished I could have stayed longer in the city (which is a great place for buying camping/trekking gear - they even have a few second hand shops selling tents and stoves.)

I am now in Kaikoura which is the place to go in NZ for seeing whales and dolphins. I took a boat trip out in what I was told was extrememly calm weather. The catamaran bounced over some of the waves like a rollercaoster so I would hate to experience a rough day. We were heading towards our first whale after a bit and watched as it blew water out of its blow hole before disappearing with a flick of the tail in the air. Kaikoura gets lots of whales in the area as the Kaikoura trench is an extraordinarily deep ocean trench just off the coast. It plunges to about 1500 metres which is enough to encourage male sperm whales to visit the coastal waters. We saw five sperm whales on our trip which was great. On the way back to the harbour we encountered dusky dolphins - a pod of what the skipper reckoned was close to 400 dolphins! It was amazing to watch these animals jump out of the water and race around the boat. Some performed incredible acrobatics, leaping above the waves and tunring 360 degrees before plopping back into the water. I could see them quite clearly just under the surface below where I stood on the boat. A truly breathtaking moment.

As if that wasn't enough, a few metres from shore, we came across a solitary Hector's dolphin which is the rarest dolphin and endemic to New Zealand. It has a characteristic rounded dorsal fin and we watched the elusive animal for a while before docking.

I walked around the cliffs this morning and took it easy with a book as my crayfish trip got cancelled (the hostel owner takes groups out on his boat to empty the lobster pots which is quite fun apparently - although not for the crayfish admittedly)

Encouraged by tales from other travellers at the lovely hostel I am staying at, I have decided to stay another day and go swimming with the dusky dolphins tomorrow morning (yup, have to be there at 5.30am and have borrowed 2 alarm clocks!) I didn't consider doing this before as I saw the pod yesterday but so many people have raved about how wonderful it is to be in the water with dolphins that I thought I just have to give it a go. Now I just have my fingers crossed for good weather tomorrow morning...

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Photos

Rees-Dart trek
The Dart river at Sandy's Bluff

Rees-Dart trek
Anyone want to carry my backpack?

I've finally found...
...Paradise

Fancy, a shag!
Actually, it might be a cormorant -whatever!

Comments

[Uncle P & Auntie W]

Glad we bought that photo album for Christmas
What a wonderful time you are having. We are really enjoying your update and those spectacular photographs. Looking forward to the next episode.

[Jessie]

Wet and wild!
Wowzers! Sounds incredible. I wanna see a photo of the whales! Can't wait to read the next instalment re your swimming with dolphins. I thought we were lucky to see a couple in the Bay of Islands but it seems that was nothing compared to Kaikora!