~ Swimming with Dusky dolphins in Kaikoura on the east coast was absolutely incredible! We had a very clear morning with calm seas and the dolphins were very close by, only a 20 minute boat ride with minimal rocking. Our group was really big, about 20 swimmers plus people just doing the watching, so we had to split into two groups for the swimming. I don't know how long I actually spent in the water, but with the wet suit on I was surprised that I didn't feel cold at all and wanted a lot longer with the dolphins. I mean, I get into the water and all of a sudden there are TONS underneath me. I love their dark markings, they swirl and remind me of the waves of the ocean. We're encouraged to sing to the dolphins, but mostly all I can do is make odd noises with the snorkel in my mouth. It seems to work initially to entice the dolphins closer (they're completely wild, and so our guides tell us that it's our job to entertain THEM!) I circled with a few of them, looking into their eyes and feeling very connected with nature. There were also two seals in the water, and they were super graceful and beautiful and had huge eyes.
~I then went to Hamner Springs and took a walk up to the top of town. I met some guys from Saudi Arabia that made dinner for me and this Dutch guy, something pronounced "Capsa" which is essentially meat and tomato stew over rice, YUM. The next morning I sat in their hot springs, which I had to pay for, and honestly wasn't that impressed. I will say though, that being in the 43 degree sulphur pool was uncomfortably warm, but did feel relaxed afterward. But overall I could have done without the trek to Hamner.
~I caught a ride to Christchurch with a German girl from the Hamner hostel and participated in a celebration with the local Nichiren Buddhist community (May 3rd!). It was really nice to meet more members and there were great performances over the afternoon. I stayed with members for a few days and got sorted with warmer clothes for the impending winter.
~Mount Cook was next with some absolutely gorgeous sunny days and really impressive views of the mountains. Mt Cook is the tallest mountain in New Zealand and it's a big feat to climb it. There was a nice vibe to the very small village, which was established basically as a base camp for mountaineers. The snow capped mountains were visible from my dorm window, which literally made me gasp in the morning. I four walks over 2 days, one of them called the Hooker Valley walk, which winded through the valley, over 2 swingbridges, and ended at Hooker lake, which had icebergs floating in it! They were fairly small, and kind of dirty, but it was still something I'd never seen before. They were also melting fairly rapidly...
~I then stayed 3 nights in Lake Wanaka. I went here basically to do a skydive, something that I've been wanting to do after seeing Freddy's video from ages ago. Unlike the bungy jump I don't actually have to do anything, the person strapped to you is the one that does all the work, which seems like a nice, tame extreme sport :) I met up with a friend from the kiwi orchard, Davide, a really sweet Italian guy. Then our other Italian friend from the orchard, Silvio, met up with us the next day. It rained all morning so I figured I wouldn't be able to sky dive, and the forecast for the next day was rain as well, so I was bummed. The rain let up in the afternoon, so the Italians and I took a walk around the lake. I have been really impressed with the colors of the trees in the south island, so many vibrant yellows and orange and even some reds here and there, matched with the ever-present greens and now snowy distant mountains has been so picturesque. When we get back to the hostel and walk into the kitchen I see two more friends from the vineyards have checked in! My lovely friends Sabrina and Carlolin from Germany! Sabrina also worked on the kiwi orchard, so it's like I've seen her almost every step of the way since January. She says to me "Caitlin! I've booked my skydive for tomorrow morning!" Aaaaah, what!? I call the company and ask to be put down as well, and I'm just reeling, am I actually going to do this???
The next morning is looking incredibly clear, so the skydive is ON. We get into these oversuits that look like something out of the circus with bright primary colors, and actually have to wait for over an hour while a layer of fog lifts from the airport. We also watch I think 3 groups go ahead of us, and Sabrina is getting really nervous, while I'm just getting more excited. My tandem diver, Alex, from Brazil, is awesome and cracking jokes and clearly loves what he does. We get into the plane, me first, because I'll be the last to jump, since everyone else is going at 12,000 ft and I'm jumping at 15,000 ft. The ride up is spectacular, just the most gorgeous day, and I'm able to see everything down below- Lake Wanaka, the Clutha River snaking lazily through farmland, and Mount Cook! Suddenly the door is opened and people start disappearing out of the plane. It hits me, that once Sabrina is out the door, oh Jesus, I'm about to jump out of a plane! this is when I start getting nervous, but there is no turning back. You can see my face on my video as I slide to the front of the plane and dangle my legs out the door, I'm thinking "fuck fuck fuck fuck" but before I know it I'm not sitting in the plane anymore and free falling over New Zealand. My instinct was to close my eyes but I forced them open, trying to take everything in, and mostly there was just so much color beneath me that I couldn't really distinguish anything below during the fall. I remember it being very windy, and I tried my hardest to smile for the camera but my mouth was just gaping open, halfway between screaming with joy and being speechless. I don't think I screamed out loud... I was such a rush, and I can't tell if that full minute of free fall was short or long, but it was definitely fantastic. Alex opens the parachute and we glided for several minutes, which is how I imagine what flying must feel like. Alex says "You can really say I have an office with a view!" and MAN am I jealous! I was just smiling like a fool, feeling like one of the luckiest people to be seeing the land from above in such a cool way. I'm so happy I did it.
Davide, Silvio, Carolin, Sabrina and I hike later that day above Diamond lake, with a 270 degree view of Lake Wanaka (wow!) then later make a huge dinner together. We decide to meet up in Queenstown over the next few days. Carolin and Sabrina head down early the next morning while Davide and Silvio and I go on a hike in Mt Aspiring national park, on I believe the Rob Roy track, ending looking up at a glacier on the side of one of the peaks, which I thought was actually much nicer than in Mt Cook.
~Queenstown is known for being insanely expensive and not too exciting, but we went during the 'off season'- not summer and not winter!- so there weren't too many people there, which made it a very pleasant visit. Again, gorgeous colors of autumn. Twas a little chilly but not unbearable in a town gearing up for ski season, again was a nice vibe. The five of us played frisbee golf in the park, which has a permanent course set up with chain baskets for goals. I really liked some of the holes, one where you had to stand on a rock to tee off, another your frisbee had to pass through two of four trees before going towards the basket, and one whose 'goal' was this tiny triangle between a tree and a boulder. The park was very pretty and the game was really fun, though we were borrowing seriously crappy frisbees from the hostel and we were all pretty atrocious, letting lots of people pass us with their fancy small frisbees designed for distance.. We celebrated with lunch at FergBurger, the place where everyone says you have to go while in Qtown, and the meals were HUGE and of course very tasty.
~ I then head back to Chch with Sabrina and Caro because we want to see Akaroa together. We stop overnight in Lake Tekapo, which is renowned for being extraordinarily blue from glacial rock powder suspended in it. Here I also decide to book a flight to Auckland for my last week, which I think will be more exciting than staying on the south island.
~ Akaroa is the culturally French town in NZ, though I don't really see it other than the street names, but think the town is very quaint. Some of the houses are very cute but didn't scream 'french'. We ended up meeting other friends, and Sabrina/Caro drove back, while I stayed behind with the others, sitting in the sun as it slowly went down behind the hills. It was very warm all day (why did I get warm clothes again?? I haven't needed to use them!) and just sitting on the side of the road by the water on this patch of grass was so lovely.
~Jump from staying with my friend Hannah in Christchurch to a weekend with Helen in Auckland, and on to Pahia in the Bay of Islands. This is in the northern penninsula of NZ on the north island, and was one of the few places I hadn't yet visited, and figured it would be a great way to end my journey. The first day we got a cruise of the islands, going to the famous "hole in the rock", which is literally a big hole in a rock out at sea, very strange weathering... And then we found a pod of bottlenosed dolphins having, get this, an orgy. Cheeky. These dolphins were a lot bigger than the Dusky ones I saw in Kaikoura, and at first I thought, "I don't really need to see dolphins again, I swam with them!" But then even seeing them breathing was really amazing. I think they're just incredible creatures, I was transfixed by them.
The following day I took a bus tour to Cape Reinga, the northernmost point of New Zealand, where the waters of the Tasman Sea and the Pacific Ocean literally come together. In Maori culture this is where souls depart to the next world. Watching the waves crash was beautiful, spiritual and incredibly unique. I could have sat there watching for a long time. I really enjoyed our lunch stop on the beach, again just a beautiful day and the water was so inviting that I just took my shoes off, rolled up my pants and stuck my feet into the clear waters, letting any anxieties of leaving wash away. It had rained earlier in the day, which was perfect for SANDBOARDING, where we drove to this massive sand dune and got boogie boards to slide down it on our stomachs. It was great fun, because the slightly wet sand makes you go really fast, which was also a bit terrifying as you're looking down the slope head first, but I enjoyed it so much that I tackled the uphill sandy struggle three times for that downhill rush. We also got to see wild horses on the Ninety Mile Beach! I didn't think there were very many left, but we saw about seven of them, beautiful chestnut brown and white.
The next morning it was so perfect out, so I went out kayaking on the water with a girl I met on the bus. The water was so glassy that it was really easy to kayak (unlike in Abel Tasman) and all I wanted to do was spend the day out on the water. As we're bringing in our kayaks the guy at the store asks if we want to go sailing with him, so I say why not?? I spend the afternoon helping jib the main sheet on a 123 year old boat, getting to see the islands some more and shooting the breeze with some locals! Oh, and we saw a small penguin in the water :)
The following day it rained. All day. Yuck. But then the day after, on the bus ride back to Auckland, we stopped at a native bird conservatory and hospital, where I saw a talking Tui bird named Woof Woof. He sounded a little like a robot, and I could understand him talking about Christmas.. or maybe it was 'kiss kiss'. That was bizarre. But what was REALLY amazing was when the keeper comes out with a real kiwi bird! I couldn't believe it, I didn't think I was really going to see one before leaving, and he even let us pet it! It wasn't that soft, actually its feathers felt kind of lumpy, but never mind, I PET A KIWI BIRD! And then he let it run back in its cage and it was really fast- no wonder no one ever sees them, they like to hide. And it just looks like it should topple over because their beaks are so long and have just the most bizarre body shape... But what another great highlight in my week filled with nature!
~I've gotten this last weekend with my friends Helen and Amy at Helen's house in a suburb of Auckland called Ponsonby, and we've had a lovely time together. Amy left for Australia this morning, so it was really wonderful to see her again before we're both out of the country. The other night we got all dressed up and went out, and we pretty much owned the bar because we looked so fabulous. Yesterday we were all tired and hungover, so we ordered pizza and almost set the kitchen on fire trying to keep the pizza warm, that was exciting. Basically I didn't know how to work the oven and it was set on 'grill mode' and a high temperature, and Helen put the BOXES into the oven... luckily Helen smelled something burning and we pulled out the boxes, which caught flame as soon as they were taken out... geez, it was a little scary. But we put out the fire and cleaned everything up (and ruined one of the pizzas, cry..) and felt really stupid. An exciting end to the weekend.
I think these will be the last memories of New Zealand, really. These next few days I'll be down in Christchurch waiting for my flight out on Friday morning! It's my birthday on Thursday, but I'm not willing to party and then immediately embark on my 24hr journey home, so either I will celebrate the day before or just be really really lame and not do anything. But either way I've had many other celebrations of being overseas. Though it's sad that it's coming to an end, I am so happy for everything I've done and seen and the people that I've met. It's been a wild ride. I hope I will get to do at least one more reflective post, most likely at Sydney Airport, to really tie up the last of my New Zealand experience!
In the words of my mother's email this morning, "Caitlin's coming home! Caitlin's coming home! Caitlin's coming home!"
I love you Caitlin. Great post. Happy early birthday!
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