Blogs from Kaikoura, South Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 16

There's no breakfast for the wicked. If you want to swim with the dolphins in Kaikoura, you can either start at 05:30 or 08:30 in the morning. After this, they have a sleep (they sleep in the daytime to save energy), and after that, they are left alone. So, as this is one of my lifetime goals, I’ll make an exception and will get up before 8 o’clock so that I can jump into the cold Pacific Ocean for a swim with these amazing creatures. With just seconds to spare, I park my home near the pick-up point and join the group. Interestingly, the vast majority of swimmers are North European - Danes, Germans and Swedes being the largest groups. There’s a limit to the number of bodies in the water near to the dolphins, so ... read more

Kaikoura to swim with dolphins 19th to 21st Decemeber We arrived in Auckland (North Island) at 4am feeling a little tired but excited about the next leg of our journey and also about the fact that we’d just time travelled, crossing the date line so the 18th of December didn’t exist! The New Zealand customs officials were very friendly (the friendliest I’ve experienced yet) and allowed us to keep out olive and blue cheese paste and dulce de leche that we had been worried the tight customs rules would not allow us to take through. We followed the long blue line from the international terminal to the domestic one and boarded our connecting flight to Christchurch (South Island). Once landed we caught the bus to the city centre and had a great (albeit expensive as we ... read more

Lørdag den 26. dec. Juleaften gav vi hinanden en lille ekstra tur til byen Kaikoura, som ligger godt 180 km. nord for Christchurch, byen hvorfra der kan ses hvaler. Da vi ikke havde bestilt plads på en af turene, fik Ida og jeg lokket Bertil til at stå op kl 7.00 for at ringe til WhaleWatchers, for at høre om det var muligt at få plads på en af dagens både. - det var der, men desværre først kl. 16.30, så der var jo rigelig tid… Derfor tog vi lige over i Countdown, som er et mega stort supermarked der holder åbent 364 dage om året, døgnet rundt, yes der er ingen der skal mangle noget….! Missionen var at handle ind af fornødenheder da vi ikke er ude at spise hver dag. Missionen lykkedes! Efter det ... read more

The next day we drove up to Kaikoura. We met Sally and Tim Blunt, moved into our place, and then the next day climbed up the mountain that overlooks the whole area. This is our home for the next couple of months.... read more

Today we headed up to Kaikoura. On the way we stopped at Brew Moon Brewery for some snacks and to try some of their beer. It was pretty good. We had a Dark Side of the Moon Stout. We sat outside in a small courtyard, and while it was windy, it was really nice. They are just a small brewpub right on the side of the road, so I'm glad we stopped, and didn't just drive by. It was really nice in Kaikoura. We booked a cave tour for tomorrow, and then went to the Kaikoura Winery for a wine tasting/tour. It's up by the coastline, so it has beautiful views of the ocean. Unfortunately it was a little bit overcast, but it was still nice. We got to try about six of their wines. They ... read more