Kia ora, friends and greetings from the land of kiwis. I was super pumped to see Amar waiting for me at the airport as I cleared customs. It’s been a while since I’ve had an airport pickup so this was quite a treat.
Amar lives in Auckland so I was able to make an immediate beeline for the shower and pull myself together for a tasty cup of chai on One Tree Hill followed by a a delicious lunch of green lipped mussels and a couple of glasses of a delicious NZ sauvignon blanc in Mission Bay. Yummy!!!
Since you know sister hates the cold, Amar and I were eager to make our way down south as quickly as possible before the colder temperatures arrived. As a result, we hit the road first thing in the morning and made our way to Coromandel.
What a stunning view! Wow! I’ve heard NZ delivers on gob smacking natural scenery (Lonely Planet’s words) and I have to agree that is smack daddy. Supposedly the South Island takes it to a new dimension of spectacular so if it gets better than this I think I’m going to be a happy girl.
Next we hit hot water beach, which is famous for this small stretch of sand where warm water oozes up from beneath the surface. All one has to do to access the soothing water is to hire a shovel and dig some holes.
Sounds easy enough, right? Amar immediately got to work on digging us our sand jacuzzi.
After digging for a while, we finally came upon water, but instead of being warm and soothing, it was ice cold. It’s kind of a crap shoot as to which section of sand will contain the magical, hot water so if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.
And again…
Unfortunately holes 2 and 3 were also duds, but thankfully some nice lady took pity on us and invited us into her pool. Don’t mind if we do…
The pools are only available 2 hours on either side of low tide so after all that hard work, it’s just washed away. No worries, though. We had plenty of time to soak in the relaxing water before heading on to our next destination, Cathedral Cove.
It seems like a beautiful place to go swimming, but it’s really only a good idea if you happen to enjoy arctic temperatures. I put my toe in the water to assess and practically got frostbite. So, Cathedral Cove…pretty to look at, but a death sentence for swimming in my opinion. Yes, I realize there are people swimming in the water who appear to be very much alive, but they are clearly insane. Enter at your own risk, folks.
The next day it was off to Mt Maunganui, or the Mount, for people in the know like yours truly.
The views from the top are absolutely spectacular with beaches and sea on all sides.
After conquering the Mount we powered on the Whakatane. Note, wh is pronounced like F so Whakatane is actually pronounced (fa-ka-at-ne). Yes, it sounds like what you think it does.
Whakatane is a tiny town, but serves as the gateway to White Island, NZ’s most active volcano. The White Island tour was canceled for today due to inclement weather so we were content to walk around town and check out the sites, keeping our fingers crossed that tomorrow would be better.
After checking out the town we checked into our hotel, which sat above an Irish bar called the Craic. I’d like to give a shout out to my Irish peeps, what’s the craic (’sup), y’all? The room was fine, but what the heck is up with this? Are we in NZ’s equivalent of the Bate’s Motel?
With the rainy weather there was absolutely nothing going on so we decided to see a movie at the local theatre. When we got back to our hotel at 10:15 PM we were surprised to discover that the hotel and Irish pub were both locked and completely vacant. Hmm, this is strange. Surely our hotel wouldn’t have locked us out. We actually cracked up laughing about how absurd it would be if we were actually locked out while we called the after hours number.
Standing outside the front door of the hotel, we could hear our after hours call ring inside, but when we peered through the glass to see if anyone was actually inside to take the call we saw nothing but this…
Neat. (insert hysterical laughter)
Next we decided to call the security company to see if they could help.
A very energetic and extremely helpful lady took our call, but advised us that this company was headquartered in Australia so she’d do the best she could to help us remotely. The number she had for the owner also rang inside so we knew that route was a dead end. Next she looked up the owner’s name in the phone book, of which there were 3 of them, ringing each of them in hopes that 1 would be the correct number. At this point it was around 11 PM so the people who answered were slightly annoyed, even more so to discover it was the wrong number. Oops, sorry.
This lady took it even a step further by calling the police to see if there was something they could do, but the police laughed and said this same thing happened 2 weeks ago and that we’d better find another place to stay. Going above and beyond the call of duty yet again, this amazing lady called a few hotels for us, but they were all booked…or not answering their phones. Whuck! Really?
So, it looks like Amar and I were going to be sleeping in the car after all. These photos are courtesy of Amar’s cell phone.
Ah, home sweet home! During all of this we were cracking up laughing at the absurdity of this situation. First of all, it was insane to me that literally everything in this town was closed at 10 PM and secondly we must have looked so sketch standing at the entrance of the hotel in the torrential rain laughing our faces off. Of course no one was around to see our sketchiness, but if they were they would have definitely wondered what was going on with us.
Oh well, it could be worst. Though all of our luggage was inside the hotel, we both had our sleeping bags in the car. OK, time to get some sleep. Nightie night.
The above picture is a bit misleading, suggesting perhaps that I did actually sleep, but within minutes of applying my “eye mask” I was abruptly shaken out of my relaxed state by the violent rattling of the windows. OMG are we in the midst of another earthquake and what is that deafening sound? After tearing away my eye mask I discovered that we weren’t in any danger and that the simulated earthquake was being produced by my overly zealous, sleeping travel companion. Special…
As you know, Amar and I have traveled together before, but this snoring, which depending on his body positioning resembles a chainsaw or a fog horn, was definitely something new. Wow, I guess I won’t be sleeping much on this trip.
The next morning a bright eyed and bushy tailed Amar opened his eyes to discover me, 3 inches from his face, staring at him with an expression of horror. I believe my mouth was open and there may have actually been drool hanging from my lower lip. I proceeded to re-enact the evening from my perspective to a beet red and severely embarrassed Amar.
Apparently he suffered a terrible ear infection while in Africa and since then the snoring seems to have become an issue. Of course I realize there’s nothing one can do when sleeping, but we agreed that it was OK for me to shake Amar and tell him to roll over when the chainsaw revs up.
We made our way over to the hotel to notify the owner of her error, which resulted in a full refund and the invitation to shower in the room where our luggage had been held hostage. No harm, no foul and that razor blade sign does make a bit more sense now.
Since the weather was still crap we couldn’t do White Island so we powered on to the adorable town of Napier. A few kilometers outside of Napier was Te Mata Peak, offering stunning views of Hawke’s Bay.
It was insanely windy up there, but I was ready for it.
This bush is called flack and it’s everywhere on the North Island. I became obsessed with it, but I’ll spare you and share only this one pic…well for now at least.
After taking in some of the scenery we hit one of the local wineries, Mission Estate, the oldest winery in NZ. I highly recommend their chardonnay. Yummy!
The next morning we set out for Cape Kidnappers. As per usual for NZ, it’s magnificent.
Cape Kidnappers is also famous for its feathered residents, the gannets.
The walk along the coast is tidal dependent so we definitely needed to get our buns in gear if we didn’t want to swim back to our hotel.
The next day we powered down to Wellington where we’d catch the ferry to Picton and the spectacular Marlborough Sound the next morning. I was kind of craving Mexican food and had read that there was a good place in Wellington, but I have to say that these positive reviews were definitely not written by anyone who has actually had real Mexican food. LAME!
The next morning we caught the ferry to Picton, but the weather was abysmal so we’ll have to wait for those stunning views on our trip back up north. While NZ may suck on Mexican food, one thing it does really well in addition to lamb, wine, and dairy is bakeries and the Picton Village Bakkerij has the best carrot cake I think I have even eaten. We bought a huge piece, which we gnawed on over the next few days. Yummy!
After gorging ourselves on cake and wine it was time to get a little exercise and since no visit to NZ is complete without a tramp (hike) through Abel Tasman National Park, we did just that.
The walk is gorgeous through fern lined trails that open up to vistas of golden beaches and turquoise water. We decided to take our lunch in this little cove. This pic is courtesy of Amar.
Within seconds of pulling out our sandwiches we had some friends.
It was all fun and games until Amar decided to give them some bread. Ok, Ok he may have gotten some prompting from me, but before the bread even left Amar’s hands this giant albatross swooped in to get a piece of the action.
Maybe that wasn’t the best idea. I have to say, it’s not the most relaxing experience to have several fearless birds staring at you while you eat, but we managed.
Once the meal was finished the birds lost interest in us
and moved on to bigger and better things like tree pose along the shore.
Another iconic image of NZ is Split Apple Rock.
Yep, it’s split alright. Kinda cool, huh? Here’s a little insider tip from a local…if you come down to Split Apple Rock at night you can see glowworms inside one of the caves to the left of the rock. Amar and I did this and it’s pretty cool. Definitely bring a head lamp though because it’s crazy dark and you have to walk down a bunch of steps to get there.
Wanting to experience Abel Tasman from several vantage points, we took to the sea the next day and kayaked up the coast.
Unfortunately the weather wasn’t great, but we didn’t let that dampen our spirits
After Abel Tasman we headed back to Nelson for a quick frolic around town. Rob lived in Nelson for a few months while writing his dissertation so he was thrilled for me to see his former stomping grounds. Not too shabby…not too shabby at all.
We decided to have lunch in Mapua, which is famous for their green lipped mussels and I’m so glad we did too because they were insanely delicious.
The drive back to Nelson was spectacular.
We originally intended to spend the night in Nelson, but we were there on a Sunday and evidently everything in Nelson is closed on Sundays, including the police station
so we decided to stroll along the beach,
take in a lovely sunset, and then power on to Blenheim.
Blenheim is famous for the world renowned NZ sauvignon blancs so Amar and I were both pretty pumped to sample some of NZ finest. Cheers!
Of course NZ wineries have sheep wandering around. I mean, sheep are everywhere in NZ so it just makes sense that they’d be grazing in the vineyards as well. I love it!
After a fabulous day in Blenheim we headed to Kaikoura for whale watching and swimming with Dolphins, weather permitting of course. Both of these activities are huge on my list of things to do so cannot wait to get my buns to Kaikoura and see some serious marine life. Woo Hoo!
Kaikoura is absolutely breathtaking with mountains, rocky beaches, and stunning blue water.
We decided to do the whale watching first.
They rode us out into the ocean for about 30 minutes and the sights were just stunning.
These folks run a top notch organization, slowing the boat to a stop a few meters away from our first whale. OMG, it’s a whale! I was quickly trying to change my camera lens so that I could zoom in on this gorgeous creature when he finished his session on the surface and dove back down into the sea. Fortunately Amar was quicker on the draw than me so here’s a pic of our first whale sighting.
Woo Hoo! Fingers crossed that we see some more. Within minutes the boat came to a halt and it was time for our 2nd whale sighting. Bring in on, baby!
The captain and his crew are whale experts and notified us when it was time to get our cameras ready for the quintessential whale watching photo, the breached tail as the whale begins its dive below the surface. 3, 2, 1…it is on!
Pretty awesome, huh? So do you think we lucked out with any more whales? You bet we did.
Amazing!! 3 sightings in one day. Woo Hoo! I’d say that is pretty darn lucky. As if seeing 3 whales wasn’t awesome enough we also got to see some of their friends.
Here are some more scenes around stunning Kaikoura.
Kaikoura is famous for it’s delicious crayfish so you know Amar and I had to give it a try. It’s crazy expensive, even at a little roadside stand, but it was mighty tasty.
As we were enjoying our lunch we were treated to this parade of sheep. Does it get more NZ than this? Awesome!
After our tasty lunch we headed over to a seal colony near the Point Kean car park. Check out this lil’ guy who seemed a bit lost from his friends and family.
What a cutie. After gushing over him we headed down to the rocks where we met these guys.
He’s not pissed, he’s just yawning.
These guys were so chill that we could get pretty close to them.
On our way back from the seal colony we saw our little penguin friend who seemed even more wigged out than earlier.
Poor little guy. I hope he made it back to his family. We decided to check out more of Kaikoura’s natural beauty with a stroll along the Kaikoura Peninsula Walkway. It was awesome to be walking along the cliffs.
These next 3 pics are courtesy of Amar. It’s gorgeous here, isn’t it?
At the end of the trail we came to this beautiful Maori sculpture.
Time to walk back.
Ahh, what a perfect day. Tomorrow I would be swimming with dolphins so I could barely contain my enthusiasm. I think I yapped Amar’s ears off talking about this being a dream of mine since I was a little girl. (cue that ridiculous song dreams can come true)
I was up early and practically foaming at the mouth to go swim with the dolphins. Amar is not a fan of actually being in the water with marine life so he dropped me off. I think I actually ran into the office I was so excited. The only concern I had was the water temperature, but it wasn’t an issue at all. Each of us was fitted with heavy wetsuits, complete with a hood, so the only parts of our bodies that were exposed were our feet, hands and faces. That seems pretty doable.
Prior to getting on the boat we watched an instructional video about the do’s and don’ts when swimming with dolphins. What I liked about this operation as opposed to others I had seen in different countries was that the dolphins were totally in the wild. We would take our boat out into the sea and when we happened upon a pod of dolphins we would then get into the water to join them. Of course since these dolphins are wild they cannot guarantee that a. the dolphins won’t do something crazy and b. that the dolphins will even be slightly interested in us.
Dolphins are very playful animals, but we have to convince them that we are fun too and worth checking out. To increase the likelihood of the dolphins taking an interest in you, were were advised to make dolphin noises and flap our bodies around like a dolphin. Are you kidding me? Could this be anymore up my alley? Basically, I get to act like the biggest freak show on the planet and my reward is to have dolphins come play with me. OMG, this is just getting better with each passing moment.
Dolphins also like eye contact so if and when they do approach, we were instructed to do our best to maintain eye contact.
OK, enough background, let’s get this party started. Keep your fingers crossed that we see dolphins.
As we approached a pod,
the swimmers were instructed to sit at the back of the boat with our feet dangling in the water.
Once the bell rang, we knew the propellers from the boat were off and it was safe to enter the water. As you can see, I pulled out all the stops here, renting a waterproof camera so that I could share these images with you…and of course salivate all over them for years to come.
Upon hitting the water, I immediately switched into super freak mode, doing my best to be as insane/dolphin-like as possible with the hopes of attracting the attention of the dolphins. I cannot express to you the feeling I got when 2 dolphins came zooming up to me. It is, hands down, one of the most special and unforgettable experiences in my life. I did my best to make eye contact with the dolphins and swam around in a circle for as long as they willing to play with me. OMG, I’m really swimming with dolphins!!! (again, cue that cheesy song Dreams Can Come True)
I was seriously in ecstasy when a dolphin or dolphins took interest in me and did my best to be as ridiculously animated as possible to keep them by my side. They are very fast swimmers and would zoom past you, swimming in tight circles around your body to see if you could keep up with them. It was so cool!
Inevitably the dolphins would tire of you and swim away. I hated this and took this as an opportunity to ramp up the crazy in hopes of attracting them yet again. If you were lucky, some dolphins would come zooming by to see what’s up with your freaky self, but sometimes, they were just done. We would swim with the pod for as long as the dolphins remained interested. Once they tired of us, we were loaded back onto the boat in search of the next pod.
We were allowed to enter the water on 4 separate occasions to minimize our impact on their natural behavior. The lady on the boat warned me that the camera was a little slow and that I might want to go with video. The pics featured above are my best shots, but most of my pics came out like this…
Awesome, right? My videos are a little better, but I decided that I wasn’t going to waste my precious time with the dolphins messing with the camera so I just enjoyed my time swimming with them. Fortunately, though, the peeps at Dolphin Encounter took pity on me and decided to include some pics taken by other swimmers…you know, pics that actually included a dolphin. Rock on! These pics are awesome. Enjoy!!!
This is my fave…could they be cuter? These are dusky dolphins, btw.
After the swimming part of the trip was over, we were invited to take pictures of the dolphins from the boat. This is definitely the best dolphin sighting I have ever had. Not only were there hundreds of dolphins, but these dolphins liked to jump. No way!!! Someone please pinch me because this is amazing.
I love this pic! So cute.
After hanging with the dolphins we headed over to some rocks where some seals were chillin’.
Hey you guys!!!
What’s up?
Heeeeey!!!!
Alas, it’s time to head back to shore, but I have nothing but rave reviews for my dolphin experience. It was everything I wanted it to be and more. Wow, what a spectacular day and it’s only 11 AM.
Needless to say, I was beside myself all day. I bounced out to the car where Amar was waiting for me and proceeded to gush, squeal, and lose my mind for the next 30 minutes telling him all about my adventures. While I was swimming with the dolphins, Amar got the 411 (information) on another seal colony on the outskirts of town. Sweet. I hope you like seals because I’ve got some rockin’ seal pics for you.
Insanely adorable!
Aww, melt your heart adorable!
Our next stop was a quick visit through Christchurch. As you know, Christchurch suffered from a terrible earthquake, followed by hundreds of aftershocks. It was pretty depressing to walk through town and see the devastation.
This clay like substance is called liquefaction and it oozes out of the earth during an earthquake.
We met this sweet Aussie girl named Alexis at our hostel in Abel Tasman who happened to be in Christchurch during the earthquake. She actually saw the tip of the cathedral come crashing to the ground. Unbelievable! She proceeded to tell us heart warming stories of people helping each other during this terrible disaster and shared her own story of wading through waist high liquefaction to get to some stranger’s house who was going to let her crash there until her father could arrive from Wellington. Insane.
Despite the devastation, one could tell that Christchurch was a beautiful city. The fall foliage was in full effect, but there was definitely a strange and sad feeling in the air.
For obvious reasons, we decided against staying in Christchurch. As luck would have it, a few weeks earlier I had been in Saigon to renew my Thai visa and gobble up as much Vietnamese food as possible and happened to meet the loveliest kiwi couple my last night in town, Jacqui and Richard, from Geraldine, NZ. We stuck up a great conversation and when I mentioned that I would be visiting their fine country they generously offered to let Amar and I stay with them. Wow, how sweet!
Amar and I had zero hotel reservations lined up for this trip, taking each day as it comes and finding a hotel a few hours before stopping in a town. It just so happened that Geraldine was pretty much the perfect place for us to stop on our way down south so I reached out to Jacqui and Richard to see if we could take them up on their generous offer. They were fabulous and welcomed us into their homes with open arms. We arrived just in time for dinner. Tonight’s menu: green curry chicken with a side of steamed broccoli. My favorite! Yummy! After dinner they let us do some laundry as we kicked back in the family room to watch a little basketball.
Jacqui and Richard live in a beautiful home on a farm that has been in their family for several generations. Richard is a farmer and offered to take us out on some quad bikes the next day to get a feel for life on Robinson Farm. Could this be cooler? Wow, what a wonderful and unexpected addition to our trip.
This is Mindy and as you can see, she is super fired out to take a spin around the farm.
Here are Mindy and I on the back of the bike and ready to roll…
It’s time to herd some sheep.
Check out the concentration. I think this dog’s name was Dude and Dude was defs not playing around when it came to herding sheep.
Mindy is content to relax while Dude goes to work.
Does it get any better for a dog than this?
Actually, I guess it does…
Amar and I are just as pumped as these dogs. What a fantastic day!
Time to go check on some cows.
Dude is fearless…
Apparently the cows like this boldness…boom chicka bow wow…or should I say moo chicka bow wow? Yeah, I actually said that…
We’ll leave you guys to your business. It’s time to feed some goats anyway!!!
I’m totally feeding goats. Awesome…
Baaaaa….
Ok, Mindy, we get the picture…time to go home.
All aboard…
Man, what an amazing day! I’d like to extend a huge thank you to Jacqui and Richard for welcoming us into their beautiful home and showing us around their fabulous farm! What a delightful and unexpected surprise. I would love to return the hospitality so if and when you are in the US, please let me know. Thank you again for such a special and memorable visit to Geraldine.
Well, folks, that’s it for now. Amar and I are headed further down south so prepare yourselves for more spectacular scenery. See you soon!
