Dolphin Swim and First Pix

We did our dolphin swim this morning and it was amazing. There were a lot of dolphins out and we were able to get very close to them, closer than the previous times I've done the swim.. It's just very cool to be in the water, making eye contact with a wild dolphin!

I took this picture, which shows a swimmer in the water and a dolphin frolicking just behind. And here we are on the boat just after the swim:

Since we found a good internet cafe, here's a few more photos:

This is us at the pass overlooking Doubtful Sound. It's a pretty cool spot, there is a lake that's about 150 meters of altitude, and a road over a mountain pass that about six miles later hits Doubtful Sound (which is actully a fjord). We took a day's tour. The rain prevented us from seeing the mountaintops but the waterfalls were amazing. I was wearing my very fashionable bright yellow raincoat, which won't win

This is me at the terminal face of Fox Glacier.. note the warning sign behind me.

Here's a yellow eyed penguin coming out of the ocean, taken at the bottom of the South Island in the Catlins.And finally, a self-portrait of us sitting in the car..

We're having fun and these are highlight pictures.. we've taken many more. Hope all is well with you back home!

-bob

Kaikour-aah!

No, we didn't take that picture, but that's where we are - Kaikoura, NZ.

We made our way up the West Coast today from Hokitika. Click here to see the route. It took about six hours. Kaikoura is an awesome town on the East Coast - of all the places I've been to up and down NZ, this one is my favo(u)rite.. It's famous for its mountains, which rise pretty close to the sea. The cliffs basically drop right into the ocean, meaning the water is pretty deep right off the coast.

The geography of the area means it's frequented by all sorts of great marine life within a mile or so of the shore, and tomorrow we're going to swim with wild dolphins. They basically take you out in the open ocean, put a snorkel on you, and drop you in a pod of dolphins. It's pretty awesome. This will be my third time doing this, and I am ecstatic for the opportunity to do it again. Hopefully the dolphins will oblige and give us a show.. Gina's very excited for it and I hope she gets what she's expecting! We're planning to come into this internet cafe tomorrow after the swim, so we can describe it and hopefully post some pictures.

This isn't the first time we'll see rare wildlife. At the bottom of the South Island, we got to see a wild Yellow Eyed Penguin, which is the rarest species of penguin on the planet. It was quite a treat.

Out on the West Coast, we had a blip - we took a corner a bit too close and blew out a "tyre" on our rental car. We were a bit scared because we were on the remote West Coast. We changed the tire in the pouring rain, and hobbled into Fox Glacier village. Luckily the local mechanic was on duty the next day (a Saturday) and we were able to buy a new tire and have him install it for a reasonable nz$83. Could have been much worse!

Hi to all back home and wish us luck for good weather and for many dolphins! Here's a photo I found on the internet of a dolphin off the Kaikoura coast.

-bob