Kaikoura

Thursday (March 21) morning, we had our drive to Kaikoura, which wasn’t all too bad. We got there in mid-afternoon and had a little time to hang out before having a lecture by a guest speaker to introduce us to Kaikoura. After the lecture, we had dinner and had a discussion afterwards before going back to our rooms to hang out for a little before going to bed.

Friday may have been the best day of the entire program. We got up, had breakfast, and hopped in the coach to go to Dolphin Encounter. We got to the building and were fitted into wetsuits (It was high 50s outside) and snorkeling gear. We then watched an intro/safety video and then got on another bus to take us out to our boat. It worked out really well because the capacity of a boat is 16 people and that’s how many of us there were so we had the whole boat to ourselves. We rode out for about 20 minutes before we arrived to a pod of 400+ Dusky Dolphins. The site of them alone was absolutely breathtaking. Fins moving up and down were visible everywhere and they were jumping and doing flips all over the place. They gave us some basic instructions and they we were allowed to hop in the water with them. Dolphins are curious animals so they are naturally inclined to come interact with humans. Word can’t describe how cool it was. They would approach and swim around and around. I had one of them swim in about 10 consecutive tight circles around me, only for another to come and do the same thing. We got to be in the water for about 20 minutes before we cruised over to another place to repeat the same process. All in all, is was an incredible once-in-a-lifetime type experience to be that close with wildlife.

Afterwards, we had lunch provided by the dolphin place and got back on the coach to have a “cultural experience” with the Maori. A few Maori people spent the afternoon with us and shared all sorts of traditions with us from greetings to songs to games to stories. They also invited us into their home for an afternoon snack and taught how to weave flax grass. It was really cool to closely encounter their culture and humbling to be accepted and treated like one of their own. That night, we had catered fish and chips dinner, and had a great discussion with our field guide Dr. Pat Devlin who is apparently one of the most respected professors in all of New Zealand. Afterwards, it was a pretty unproductive night and we went to bed relatively early.

The next morning (Saturday), we got to sleep in a little and by sleep in, I mean had breakfast at 8. We had a really cool interpretive walk through the “foreshore” which is the land between high tide and low tide and Pat talked to us a lot about various things we encountered along the way. Perhaps the most intense part of it all was that we had to cross through a seal colony to get where we were trying to go. Although seals may come across as cute and cuddly, they can actually be territorial and aggressive. Many of them were sleeping, but we had to be careful not to startle them. A couple shot us some mean looks, but for the most part, we didn’t have too many problems. That afternoon, we had to work on preparing for a debate that we had that evening and that took most of the rest of the day. For dinner, I had taco cooking duty again and I cooked some pretty good taco meat if I do say so myself.

The debate after dinner ended up going pretty well and afterwards, I was unproductive again and went to bed relatively early.

Finally, this morning we didn’t have to go to breakfast until 9 which was great. We ate, cleaned up, and headed back to Christchuch. We had a pretty short drive which was nice and when we got back here around lunchtime, I had a workout in the gym of the YMCA Hostel where we’re staying again, and then, I spent all afternoon working. We went to dinner around 6, and since I got back at 9, I have been working non-stop. I didn’t finish until about 30 minutes ago (at 2:45 AM) and seeing as I have to get up at 4:30 for our flight to Tahiti anyway, I decided to cut my losses and work on this for a little. Since I’m going back a day when I cross the International Date Line today, not going to sleep tonight doesn’t matter right?

All in all, New Zealand has been amazing. By far, it is my favorite place I have visited and I am of the impression that it is the most beautiful country in the world. I am beyond blessed to have spent a month here and I hope that one day, I have a chance to come back.

In a little more than 12 hours from now, I will be in Tahiti and in 12 days, back in the United States. To anyone reading, thank you for keeping up with me and I will try to be more consistent with posts for the remainder of the trip.