Some views of the eastern coast along the drive.
A brief stop at a NZ fur seal colony before rolling into town, where we got to get surprisingly up close and personal with the seals (though not too close since they may bite you). Most were hanging out on the rocks (looked like a low tide), while some were hiding/resting in the bushes nearby (like the one in the 6th photo), which I totally did not expect to see. One thing I quickly found out about the NZ fur seals: they really stink up close.
The big attraction in Kaikoura is the opportunity to swim (or watch if you're not up to swimming) with the wild dusky dolphins (a species of dolphins much smaller than the bottlenose dolphins) in their natural habitat, just off the coast of NZ (ie. the Pacific Ocean!). This is where the weather affected me. There was a chance we wouldn't even get to go out because the waves were very violent (there was a rain storm earlier in the day); they even had to temporarily postpone sending out boats earlier in the day because of the conditions. Luckily, they gave us the green light, and I paid (quite a bit) to get a chance to swim with the dolphins! Remember, these are completely wild dolphins, in their own natural habitat (not some aquarium setup), so we had to suit up for the cold Pacific Ocean water and were warned not to try to touch the dolphins. There was also the chance we might not get to see any dolphins since they don't stay put in one place out in the ocean.
Unfortunately, the weather problems continued to plague us. The rough waves and dark grey skies made it very to spot any group of dolphins - we actually spent so much time looking for one that we went much farther than they normally take groups out to from the coast, and we only had enough time to do one swim when we did finally spot a small group (vs. usually doing 2 swims when the weather is good). Plus, the weather affected the dolphins themselves - there were less than 10 dolphins in the group that we swam with, and I found out a few days later from someone who had done the same dolphin swim days later that there were too many dolphins to count when they went swimming. And of course, the rough waves affected me, especially with the long time we spent riding the violent seas to and from the coast (I lost count of how many times we were dropped in mid-air onto the water), compounded by the fact that I hadn't eaten any lunch (we didn't take a lunch break during the bus ride, and those of us doing the swim had to rush to the meeting centre right after being dropped off at the hostel) and I forgot to take a seasickness pill in the brief time I had to grab my things at the hostel. It's safe to say I got very seasick, and not the good kind where you actually throw up, but at the point where you feel like you're just about to throw up but can't, so you're stuck with that awful feeling and a throbbing headache the whole time...hahaha yeah it was bad. In fact it was so bad that I had to close my eyes the entire ride back to the coast and I was in no condition to go to the party at the hostel that Richie and most of the bus were staying at later on that night.
Even in light of all these problems, I still really enjoyed the swim. It was incredible that I got the chance to swim with wild dolphins; there were a few times they came so close to me that if I did reach out, I could have easily touched them. It was actually pretty funny if you watched us swim, because we were instructed earlier to make sounds and try to play with the dolphins (ie. chase them, which often resulted in swimming in a continuous circle as I would chase them while they would chase me hahaha) in order to keep them entertained so that they would swim with us. But of course with my luck, the swim itself wasn't without problems. I couldn't see the dolphins that clearly because the water was so dark and grey since there was little light passing through the clouds (I was given prescription goggles which I could see through perfectly, so it wasn't my vision), and my snorkeling mouthpiece was broken, which I only discovered once in the water because it would let water leak in(!), meaning I had to come up every 30 seconds or so to clear it out (yes I know how to use a snorkel, I didn't let water in myself hahaha). I know it sounds really negative, but the swim really was great experience: we were lucky to get to swim with dolphins in such poor conditions, and during the swim, all my seasickness disappeared for that brief period of time. Plus, the guide told us that the few number of dolphins that swam with us were still more than she had seen on previous outings earlier in the day. More importantly, I completed another 2 firsts: swimming in the Pacific Ocean, and swimming with wild dolphins! And I actually lucked out compared to some other people - 1 girl was feeling so seasick that she hopped back out less than a minute after getting in the water and sat it out (swimming costs more than the option to just dolphin watch); I guess it's all relative.
They didn't take any photos or video of us doing the swim...I'm completely surprised by this since it's a very lucrative service. And since there were only a couple of people who just watched, and everyone I knew was in the water with me, there was no one to take any photos of me in the water (plus we all looked the same with our gear, so it would've been pretty hard to pick any one person out in a photo). So there's no photos of me in the water, just photos I took while on the boat (during the brief times I could actually concentrate to take a photo).
The first set of dolphins we spotted; there were only 3 of them so we didn't swim with them. Plus, they were mating! A fun fact I learned about dusky dolphins: the females are very promiscuous, often having more than one partner during mating. In this case, it was one female and 2 males.
A pair of dolphins that followed our boat for a little bit.
A great albatross - the first I've ever seen! I knew they were big seabirds, but I had no idea they were this big! The photo doesn't do it justice (a limitation of the zoom on my lens).
Heading back to the coast - the one photo I managed to shoot before closing my eyes for the rest of the ride. I mustered enough energy to shoot this thanks to the ginger cookies they provided after the swim (supposedly to help calm the stomach) - I ate quite a few cookies since I was starving at this point hahaha.
A photo of the town centre - one short street with a bunch of buildings - taken with my phone as I walked to the mini-supermarket to grab some things for dinner. Like I said before, this town was tiny. Yet despite its small size, all the hostels (except one which no one stayed at) were situated quite a long walk from the town centre. I stay at the Albatross Backpacker Inn, a small, cozy hostel with lots of unique character (obviously not a recommended Magic bus hostel). The good thing was that it was a 10 - 15 minute walk from the town centre (which was actually pretty close compared to the other hostels) and a 5 - 10 minute walk to the dolphin swim centre. Of course the bad thing was having to make that 10 - 15 minute walk with my big bag in the cold windy weather and that same walk to go to the grocery store. It was so cold and windy I was actually shivering at one point during the walk (in my t-shirt, but still, it was supposed to be summer!).
Obviously, being drained from feeling seasick, I was in no mood to really cook anything (the long walk to the store and back was surprisingly hard enough), so I just boiled bargain brand fettuccine and warmed up a can of baked beans for a quick and easy dinner (I bought pre-mixed salad too but forgot about it in the fridge!...I ended up eating it for lunch the next day). Funny story, I got shocked by the hostel's stove! The rain storm earlier during the day had caused some water to leak through the roof in the kitchen, and some of the water must have damaged one of the stoves because the metal ignition button would shock anyone would touched it (it was an old gas stove). I didn't even get shocked that bad - just a tiny short one - a guy who tried to use it after me got quite a long painful shock. Despite the age of the hostel (it was converted from the old post office building), the showers had one of the strongest water pressures I found while in NZ (on a side note, to get to the washrooms from the rooms meant you had to walk through the kitchen and common space, meaning I walked through a room full of strangers in my boxers hahaha). In no mood to go party (and I found out the next day that the hostel where the party was was at least a 30 minute walk from my hostel), I ended up watching Blood Diamonds (even though I'd seen it before, it was the best movie the hostel had) with the rest of my Pineapple Lumps, and then settled in for some nice, quiet sleep.
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