Kaikoura, New Zealand

Sunday was a big driving day for us. We left Hokitika for Greymouth (where we replaced our cooking stove at long last! They didn't sell the proper camping ones at the bargain store we were at, but as we are mostly car camping this didn't seem like a big deal). We drove from the west coast to the east coast and after 7hours arrived in picturesque Kaikoura.

We actually organized our time well today, and so we went on a lovely coastal walk to a different seal colony. We had to do better than our first attempt!

We really lucked out with the weather in Kailoura. Here are some pictures from our walk.

The seals! Although this looks likes a battlefield, I swear this seals were happy and moving! They just liked to assume the corpse pose as soon as I whipped my camera out.

These lazy guys would loll over any rock crevice. I think they had it pretty good.

That's me clambering over the rocks.

After walking along the coast for a while, we climbed a little higher for a different perspective.

Farmland by the ocean. 

This photo is in the direction of Kaikoura. It is just a little town in a bay to the left of the photo.

The next morning we were up bright and early to go swim with the dusky dolphins!

The water outside Kaikoura is cold! We suited up in full length wetsuits with hoods and everything. We were cold and tired and a little nervous about whatever we had gotten ourselves into.

Sleepy Katie and Jasmine in their wetsuit gear. I tried to get a photo of jaz with her hood and mask on but she put her foot down. Where the suits covered was toasty but our fingers, toes, and faces got numb fast in the water. Good thing we were distracted by these guys:

Swimming with the dolphins is one of the most surreal things I have ever done. We were so bundled up that all our senses were muted. It was a hyper visual experience. Because of this, it's hard to fully process what happened. It just seems like a dream.

The dolphin pod was close to shore today. We were taken out in a boat and deposited in the middle of about 200-500 dolphins. The crew told us this wasn't sea world. We were there to amuse the dolphins not vice versa. The more playful we were, the better the experience would be. 

Tips for getting dolphins to play with you

1) sing into your snorkel

2) swim around in circles

3) dive down as far as you can under water.

The final one is by far the most effective. I never submerged without a dolphin rushing over.

We were in the water for about 50 minutes and it was magical! I don't know which was better maintaining eye contact with one dolphin and knowing, yes I'm playing with you (aka madly trying to keep up as it circles around you) or submerging totally underwater so that you are in the middle of a pack of twenty dolphins that are above, below and all around you. I could have reached our an touched them. It was so cool! I didn't have the technology required to take photos while swimming with them, but here are too many shots of the dolphins we swam with from the boat.

What our boat looked like.

The dolphins liked to race the boat. So they were always right underfoot.

This guy leapt out of the water for at least 5 minutes continuously. He also did a couple somersaults. This is the best shot I could get.

Mum and it's baby. The babies are almost full grown at this time of year.

So many dolphins! As you can see, conditions were perfect.

After this totally amazing morning, we went for lunch at this roadside food truck specializing in local crayfish (NZ lobster) and other seafood. Affordable lobster! I didn't think a day of dolphins could be approved upon.

Lunch!

I think our day in Kaikoura was easily the most perfect day of our trip. I can't even do justice to how amazing it all was. The crew at dolphin encounters said that it doesn't get any better than that.