The Dolphin Encounter

Lets bring you up to date, 

We have made it to Auckland, staying with a friend I previously volunteered with in Africa, Lucy. So far we haven't really done much in Auckland but it is, as always, lovely to finally have a house rather than a dorm room. 

Let me take you back to Kaikoura, this is where we did our dolphin encounter. Basically you pay a lot of money to swim with wild dolphins. The company make a big point of the fact that they are wild dolphins so it is better but, as they are wild, they can't guarantee that the dolphins will hang around with you. This trip had been recommended by a few friends we met along the way so we were pretty confident. 

We set off that morning, checked in, donned our sexy wet suits and off we went. The sea was "moderate" which means high chance of sea sickness much to the joy of Kinga. We started off leaping up and over the Pacific's attempts to spoil our day and found our first pod of dolphins. We were told to get ready, put our goggles/flippers on and move to the back of the boat then...go go go...we were in the water. The coldness of the ocean instantly took my breath away as the dolphins continued to swim past us. I looked down and could see nothing, about 10 metres into the endless abyss below me. We were surrounded by green plankton and knowing it is a rich and favourite food stuff of a lot of whales I pictured an enormous beast rising from below, mouth wide open, swallowing me whole. A lung full of sea water made it's way down my snorkel quickly snapping me out of my imagined demise as I looked around. Seeing lots of people in the same situation I calmed myself by working out the odds of me being the first eaten. I decided ginger is an acquired taste where as everyone likes Chinese takeaway, so I was safe and focused on swimming around. 

As the dolphins had all gone we were quickly called back to the boat to go search for a new pod. While I was freaking out in the water Kinga was having a whale of a time (sorry, bad joke). It wasn't long before we found some more dolphin and were once again released en masse back into the cold ocean. This time was better, the wetsuit had warmed up and I had got my head around the fact I was risking my life to see some big grey marine mammals that would probably eat me if they had thumbs. Once again it was the same story with the dolphins just swimming by and not playing as promised. By our fourth dip word had reached the skipper that there were a family of killer whales in the area so basically the dolphins were running away hence not hanging around to play with us. Frankly I can't blame them and I didn't like the idea of being in the water dressed as a poor functioning water mammal that would probably make a tasty amuse bocuhe for an orca. With this news we gave up on the dolphins and started to head back. In my various jumps into the water I did get to see 15 or so wild dolphins swimming by me very close which was pretty awesome. 

Pics from the encounter

As we were heading back we managed to track down the orcas so got to spend an hour or so drinking hot chocolate, munching on ginger nuts and watching a family of orcas swim around, Daddy, Mummy and little one. We were so lucky to be able to find them. Upon our return to the port we were told that the company didn't count our day as an encounter so we would be refunded part of our money back to a watchers fee, true to their word. We did get in the water a few times so had they not I would have been disappointed but not surprised.  

I guess in summary we got pretty damn lucky. We were in the water 4 times with wild dolphins, spotted wild orcas and got half our money back, if I was offered that at the beginning of the day I'd say hell yeah. 

Top of One Tree Hill

Since then we have made it to Auckland, a pretty uneventful flight from Christchurch and here we are. We have hiked up a park known as one tree hill, strangely with lots of trees...and sheep. Wandered around Auckland, kind of a mini Sydney and yesterday went to an awesome beach with black sand that glitters in the sun. I can't remember the name of it but I know it as volcanic disco beach. We have a few more days relaxing here before we head of to Fiji for some hammock time before back to the UK...sad face. 

Downtown Auckland

Until next time, look after each other and do it to them before they do it to you.

Volcanic disco beach

New Zealand South

Soooooo, last time we were just waving goodbye to Steven and Dee and good bye to the land of Koalas and Kangaroos on our way to New Zealand. We took off in Sydney for a pretty unspectacular flight until you reach the central mountains of Middle Earth...ummm....I mean New Zealand. From up high coming into Christchurch they looked spectacular. Upon landing we were greeted by many sheep staring inquisitively at this strange herd of people following one another, being shepherded out of our flying machine and into the big barn at the end of their field. I don't know if you know this about New Zealand, but there are a lot of sheep.

Sheep...but you probably knew that.

Immigration was a bit quicker than Australia but no less stressful. We passed through passport control and got to a man at declarations. It seems New Zealand is pretty strict on the fruit and sandwich smuggling trade as a lot of lunch boxes were being swiftly disposed of before they could get busted. We managed to get a banana onto our flight but getting a bit fearful on the way out we decided to ingest it before customs. I know it can be a dangerous choice to make as if the skin splits inside of you you can die of a massive over dose but it was one we had to make. We reached a man who asked us three times very clearly if we had food to declare, he could probably see the panic on my face. Just the previous afternoon I was watching a show where a poor German guy got fined $400 for having a sandwich in his bag and not declaring it. It was found by a sniffer dog, his mum had made it and he forgot it was in there. I hope his mum re-embursed the fine. Anyway, this fresh in my mind we headed through and sure enough there was a sniffer dog. As our bags were on the way out of the scan the dog approached and put his paw on our bag...little shit I thought. But it was really cute so I couldn't hate it that much. The customs lady approached moved us to the side and asked "sir, do you have any food inside this bag you haven't declared?" I was sure I hadn't but maybe i'd forgotten something, I thought to myself, I'm too pretty for prison, especially when they find out I am on the inside for smuggling bananas! Shaking in fear Kinga stepped in and confidently answered "no, have had bananas in there but we have eaten them already". The lady said she had to check our back as the dog had marked it a potentially lethal. She looked through and found the top of a banana stalk, I still wasn't sure if that is punishable but it turns out it's not. I guess it's like finding the needle with out the heroin or papers with no canabis, a close call but we at away with it. We were off the hook and I was allowed to walk as a free man into New Zealand.

Our first day was in Christchurch, not much going on here apart from a lot of building work. In 2011 it was struck with 2 large earthquakes less than 6 months or so apart and it is still recovering. Wandering around you can see how the centre of the city has pretty much been destroyed, I think they have only just finished clearing the rubble and finally things are starting to be built again. 185 people lost their lives in those two earthquakes, I am amazed it wasn't more. 

From there we headed down to Queenstown "the adrenaline capital of NZ!" Sadly it seems adrenaline comes at a hefty price so no bungee jumping or canyon swinging for us, just a bit of wine tasting and mountain hiking. The Pinot Noir down there is lovely! The hostel we were staying in had quite a party element to it. It's quite strange how that in my head I am still young and can hang with the kids but when it comes to it I can't be bothered, I just moan about the noise they make and go to bed. If you are wondering if you are getting old then backpack around New Zealand for a couple of weeks and you will probably work out that you are! The other thing that stands out about the area is just how many Germans there are, I think there are more young German here than are left in Germany. In quite a surprising turn of events it turns out I quite like the Germans I have been meeting. I am British, I am born to not like the Germans be it through history or football but here I am, on the other side of the world finding out that Germans are people too. 

Hiking views and drinking wine

While in Queenstown we managed a day trip to Milford Sounds, wrongly named as it is in fact a Fiord. If you are wondering about the difference, a Fiord or Fjord in Norway is a bunch of water at the bottom of mountains formed by the ocean filling up valleys left behind from glacial movement back in the day. A sound, however, is a bunch or water filled up by the ocean caused by river erosion and natural water movement. Generally meaning fiords will have deeper lakes with steeper sides where as sounds have gentle slopes into the water. Smart huh? Want to know the difference between a Creek and a stream? Well a Creek....Just kidding, look it up yourself. Point being it should be Millford Fiords, not Sound. Any hoo, the trip was 5 hours in a bus there, 2 hours on a boat and 5 hours on a bus back again. That a lot of bus but it was worth it, spectacularly beautiful, we even met someone famous, she played a refugee in Lord of The Rings! She was pretty funny, she said there were loads of locals rounded up to play the extras and the only instructions they were given is "Do not smile". Now having been told that and having a man on a horse with a big beard ride past you shouting "The orcs are coming" well...everyone was in hysterics.

Milton Sound and a hike at Fox Glacier

Without bungee jumping or throwing myself off a mountain Queenstown was still very enjoyable, the hiking was spectacular and the town had a cool little ski town vibe. Our next stop was Nelson but as it is a good 14 hours or so on a bus we had one night at the Fox Glacier. Sadly the weather was awful so we wandered a bit then went to bed, didn't get a chance to see the Glacier but it's just a bit of ice isn't it? I can see that in the freezer every day.

Nelson was a nice little town, we hired a car for the day and asked some people in our hostel to join us for a day of driving around the top part of the South Island which is when we met Mia, our first Japanese traveller friend. We trekked to a waterfall, learnt Japanese and eat lots of Jelly Babies. Well, that last one was just me, I can't be trusted with sweets. 

After Nelson cam Blenheim, centre of the Marlborough wine region. We had a day on bikes drinking lots of free wine tasting. Thanks to a friend in a wine company we were able to have a full behind the scenes tour of the Whitehaven Vineyard. From grapes being delivered to drinking plenty of their range in the barrel room with stuff to take home too. Needless to say by the end we were pretty happy, it was my perfect day, apart from the weather. The weather has been a bit of an issue since Queenstown, grey skies and rain all the way which is far from ideal.

Photo bombed by a lama and Marlborough wine region

Our last two stops were Picton and Kaikoura. Picton was amazing, we borrowed bikes from our hostel and they were probably two of the worst bikes available to use, they should have been condemned. Kinga's gears were stuck so she only had the use of two and my little rust bucket had an issue with the handle bars, as in if you were going too fast they turn but the wheel doesn't. Somehow before we found all this out we were at the top of a pretty tricky mountain bike path. And that is the story of how Kinga's mountain biking career started and finished in one glorious 30 minute ride, needless to say it was probably Kinga's worst moment of the whole trip. Well...worst part until the rain came pouring down and we still had another 30 minutes or so to peddle home. 

Kaikoura was where we paid to go on a dolphin encounter to swim with hundreds of wild dolphins. To find out how we got on with the dolphins I guess you will have to wait as our plane is arriving into Auckland and once again I have written far too much to keep your attention.

Keep an eye out for the next update, until then...much love

The rest of Australia

So it has bee a very long time since I have updated this and treated you all to some words of our adventures. I sometimes find myself thinking of England and how far away it seems as we relax on the beach...not often or for very long...in fact once...I might have. Any hoo, we are now in New Zealand, currently sat on a bus twisting and winding it's way through various parts of Middle Earth. It is now Autumn on this side of the world meaning the sun has gotten weaker and the nights shorter but the trees and the changing colours is nothing but spectacular. It is quite strange thinking it is currently Autumn 2014 here, so we are going to have two Autumns and no Springs this year. So how did we get here? I guess that takes us back to Adelaide airport all those weeks ago.....

Another horrible flight, I believe we have found a worse airline than Ryanair in Tiger Airlines but that wasn't the problem, the weather was. Due to storms we were trapped on the plane for a while before take off but when we did finally manage to the turbulance had the plane hopping around more than a kangaroo on crack. It was the longest 1 hour flight I can remember but on the upside it will be a while before I need a manicure. As I am sure you will have worked out by the mere fact you are reading this we landed safely and had arrived in Tasmania.

We wandered over to pick up our rental car only to be given the pinkest of hot pink cars, I loved it. Tasmania was everything you wanted it to be, beautiful, clean and sparsely populated. 

Wineglass bay was a particular highlight with a 6 hour hike and just driving around the island, up and down mountains and through cool climate rainforest, pure nature. At one point we had pulled off the road to enjoy our lunch stop over looking Pirate Bay when a group of bikers came in a couple of minutes behind us. You know the type, loud bikes, big beards. Sensing danger as they looked at my pink wheels I thought I best speak first

"Bet your jealous" I managed to say

"Where ya from mate?" Came the thick Aussie accented reply

"England"

"Leave your testicles there mate or did you come here to get them removed?"

It was at this point I thought back to when we picked the car up and the agent asked if is pink ok or would you like a different colour..I should have probably accepted her offer.

Wineglass Bay

That was pretty much it for Tassie, we drove 1000 kms in 3 days, hiked a fair amount and got abused by local bikers, didn't see any devils but had a great time. Next stop was Brisbane to see our friend for the UK Jon, or Jonno in Australian.

Brisbane....drunk wine, went indoor climbing and spent a day on the beach. That was it really, 5 days watching Netflix and being called corned beef by Jonno's roommates...I don't even like corned beef! It was nice to finally slow down for a few days and relax with friends drinking wine, did I mention the wine?

Jonno, bored on a beach

Brisbane City

Spider Kinga

Sydney was next. We managed to get another deal on a camper van relocation and drove from Brisbane to Sydney, probably one of the most disappointing drives of all time. It looked wonderful on the map, another long coastal road but no, just a long road with nothing to see. Once again we were lucky enough to have friends to stay with, Steven and Dee. They have been quite a big part of our travels, we first met them way back in Laos where we were swimming in waterfalls and then run into them again in Ko Phagnan, Thailand where we partied together at the Full Moon Party. Last time we met them was in Kuala Lumpur as they were flying to Borneo we were heading to Myanmar and now they have ended their trip working in Sydney and let us stay. So four nights out in four different countries, quite an achievement. They are living in Manly, a suburb of Sydney to the North and a beautiful one at that.

First day was spent doing the classic touristy stuff, seeing the Opera House, the bridge, we went to Bonai Beach and met another traveller friend of past, Corey who was in Sydney for a few days. Sydney was one of those places that I didn't know if I would like too much as it is so famous and has such a high reputation to live up too but we both loved it. The only downside was the expense of eating hence we found ourselves in the cheapest places, sadly the cheapest is normally McDonalds dirtburgers. Following day was a trip up the coast to Palm Beach AKA Summer Bay, the fictional town where Home and Away is set. We went to our first ever AFL game that evening in the AK Arena built for the Olympics. The Sydney Swans Vs. Collingwood from Melbourne. In the train on the way over we got talking to a couple of fans. One guy told me that you can spot Collingwood fans as they have teeth missing then right on cue a chap over his left shoulder wearing a Collingwood cap who was stood there quietly eavesdropping our conversation removed his front two teeth and shouted "Go Collingwood" (with a lisp). 

The game itself I am sorry to say I found pretty boring, the pitch is so big and the stadium was sparsely populated so the atmosphere wasn't all that great. As for the game, it was like watching lots of men in tight shorts trying to catch an ostrich egg that is rolling down a hill. I don't know whether these two teams just weren't very good but for a game that relies on straight kicking and catching a ball they weren't doing either very well. Even Kinga was disappointed, the men weren't even hot men in tight shorts. On the upside the tickets were pretty cheap so we left at the beginning of the 4th quarter happy that we had seen our fair share of egg chasing for a lifetime.

Watching people fumbling around after eggs

Our last day in Sydney was spent lying on the beach in Manly, finding out that bodyboarding is much harder than it looks and that lungs have a surprisingly high capacity for water before you drown. I didn't find out the upper limit but I managed to take on board a fair share and am still breathing. They have pretty big waves out here. Saying our goodbyes and big thank yous to Steven and Dee before we knew it we were waving goodbye to Australia and enjoying a jaw dropping welcome to New Zealand. We flew into Christchurch which takes you over the central mountains and it was stunning to see.

Steven and Dee, plus us!

So in NZ we have spent a couple of days in Christchurch and a few in Queenstown but I am getting bored of writing now, my head hurts as this has been a very winding bus journey and you are probably bored of reading by now. I am also engaged in a battle with the snoozing Kinga next to me, she is slowly inching her way over to take up both seats and squeeze me into a corner, I must fight back so until next time, peace out home boys and girls x