We went further up the East coast to a small (tiny) town called Kaikoura where we planned to swim with dolphins and perhaps meet up with Matt & Mary (our new friends from Christchurch). We arrived in time to take a lovely coastal walk around the peninsula where seal colonies live and rest on the beaches and rocky outcrops. It has big rolling hills, bright green with grass and dotted with white fluffy sheep. It is spookily like the Dorset coastline actually - even some of the vegetation is the same: thistles and daisies among the grass.
A bit of al fresco dining
We had a delicious seafood lunch at a roadside stall so decided to splash out on a gourmet meal that night and went to the local gourmet dinery. The food was no disappointment and neither was the wine. We got chatting to a nice Welsh lady sitting near us who was also planning to swim with Dolphins the next day. There was a bit of excitement later on when she started choking on something. We asked if she was OK and when she shook her head and pointed to her back Kieran leapt to her aid and gave her a good hearty whack in the back, followed by the Heimlich maneuver (although you're not supposed to do that anymore). Luckily this did the trick and she was incredibly grateful among her embarrassment. We were all rather proud of Kieran who became the restaurant hero - he was calm and didn't even stop to think (I hadn't even put my fork down before he was by her side). He does claim that he was just trying to feel her tits but I don't believe a word of it!
Even the restaurant seemed to think he was a hero and gave us a cheeseboard for free which was really kind of them!
Anyway, the next morning we got up to swim with the Dolphins. OK yes the sea is bloody cold - a measly 8 degrees (In Thailand it was 30) - but we would have thick wetsuits (7mm) and hot showers on the boat and as the pods of dolphins were totally wild it would be a once in a lifetime opportunity. The pods can reach up to the hundreds and even up to a thousand so we had high hopes for a really special experience.
We suited up at the shop and caught the bus to the boat while they radioed the plane they send up to find the pods to see where they were. "Sorry guys", our guide came and said. "The plane can't find any dolphins and the wind is picking up so we're not going to go". The boat wasn't even in the water at this point so we felt very disappointed. We hung around for the afternoon boat but that was canceled too so we didn't get to do it this time.
The closest we got to the dolphins...this time anyway
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