A much nicer day than yesterday. Whisps of fog to the North, but the sky and sea are a brilliant blue. Pack up early and off to the dolphin place.
Having taken my snorkelling gear I'm damned well going to use it. The dolphin people seem slightly surprised by this but don't argue. Two piece 5mm wetsuits, hoods, gloves accepted. Then a quick briefing, why this is a good place to see marine mammals,boat procedures and the like. A dozen or so people with swimming gear plus a handful of pure observers. Nice clean boat.
The first couple of encounters with dolphins are abortive and disappointing. We see fins, but they don't show any interest in the boat. then another group presents and we're all sat on the back, sliding in with as little splash as we can manage and looking down in the water. All of a sudden the dolphins are in the middle of us. Flashing grey and silver through our pack as we try to attract their attention by diving (damned hard in 10mm of neoprene) or making peculiar noises at them. The water is cold, but tolerable - 12°, a mite cold on the ankles, where I've only got 3 mil booties, but the wet suit does it's job. All too soon it's out of the water (though we go in twice more) and staring at the camera to try and work out which pictures actually contain any Cetacean. Lots of water that just had a dolphin in it, lots of back or fluke.
By the end of the morning many of the passengers are crouched over buckets, despite the near flat calm, only one of the swimmers really catches it bad, a pretty red haired German girl, who misses all but the first swim. I feel sorry for her: she does know what she's missing.
Back to shore and with the weather gorgeous there's a temptation to stay another day, but there's too much else to see. So after lunch at the BBQ stall and up into the hills south of Kaikoura, heading for Christchurch largely on the strength of a flyer picked up at Wellington ferryport.
The high country is lovely, coupled with the best weather so far means it's a dream to push on. Very low on fuel at one point (annoyingly the 'fill me soon you bastard' started flashing about 10km after a cheap petrol station) leads me to understand another of New Zealand's mysteries. Every fuel station you see charges NZ$1.89 a litre. Its like there's a cartel setting the prices (Duncan points out that there's only the one oil refinery, so to a degree there is) but it's been confusing me rural stations aren't charging any more. After 40km of flashing and beginning to get a bit jumpy I find a station in the middle of nowhere. And it does charge more. But it doesn't have a sign. Is this the rule? A sign shows that you pay the standard price, a lack of sign is a tacit admission that you'll pay more?
Could probably have saved a buck with a splash and dash, there being a town with signed pumps 10km down the line, but its hardly worth the effort.
Christchurch looms, get into the middle and look for the flyer, and a payphone. I know (from the guy that called me in the middle of the night) that receiving calls costs me money, the flyer has an 0800 Number on it. Would that still be free on the mobile? Haven't yet risked it and feel little urge to start now. Yes they can accommodate me for tomorrow. In that case find exceptionally shabby backpackers and book in for two nights.
Lonely Planet recommends a Burmese restaurant, and since I don't think I've ever encountered one before I try it. Nice in a quiet kind of way. Low on the strong flavours, but not quite Indian, or Thai. Would probably try it again if there weren't so many other things to try.
No comments:
Post a Comment