The last few days I have been in the town of Kaikoura, definitely my favourite place in New Zealand so far. I arrived at the Dolphin Lodge hostel to be greeted by a roaring fire, a friendly cat (Blue) and amazing views. It was like staying in a home for a few days, with some great people.
My first night was rugby night so we headed to the pub to watch The double billing of All Blacks v Wales and England v Australia. I was with 4 Welsh people, so naturally we were vocally supporting Wales – lets just say we weren’t the most popular people in the pub. I think the low point was a group of 7 year olds looking at us like we were aliens – I’m not sure they had ever met anyone who didn’t support the All Blacks. Everyone else in the pub stopped paying attention when the England game came on, but I found the only other English person to watch the game with.
On a grey day I walked along the coast to see a fur seal colony. The walk along the coast was beautiful and getting so close to seals was amazing. The seals seemed to like chilling on the walkway, or underneath it most of all – occasionally their heads would pop up as you walked past. On my way back I stopped at the Kaikoura Seafood BBQ to try some of the local crayfish. The literal translation of Kaikoura is eat crayfish, so it seemed rude not to.
Today, however, was the highlight of my time in Kaikoura. Thanks to the nutrient rich water, marine life thrives in Kaikoura with whales, dolphins, seals, albatross and many more living in the area year round. As the sun rose this morning I walked along the beach to catch a boat to go swimmming eith dusky Dolphins. Dusky Dolphins are found in the Southern Hemisphere and are known for their acrobatic displays. This morning we headed out to sea south of Kaikoura and were lucky enough to find a pod of around 200 dolphins. The dusky Dolphins are completely wild, we did nothing to entice them to swim with us, but they were very inquisitive and playful. While we were swimming with them another pod swam in and joined to form a super pod – there were at least 600 dolphins surrounding us. They were swimming underneath us, alongside us, getting so close you could have touched them. It was absolutely incredible, one of the most amazing things I have ever done. When I was little I always wanted to swim with dolphins (my plan was to follow them around the world) and now I have, I will never forget it. When we were out of the water (it was freezing) the dolphins swam alongside us for a while, leaping and somersaulting through the air. We also saw an albatross that flew over the pod. It was an amazing morning, I feel very lucky to have got to see such beautiful animals.
a wandering almond 