12/12

There was a whale watching tour from a plane (they even let you fly the plane!).  I had always wanted to fly a plane, so this sounded pretty awesome to me.

From the air, we spotted a sperm whale and followed it around a bit.

When we were planning the trip to New Zealand, the travel agent we used told us to skip Kaikoura because it is too touristy.  However, early in our trip we were talking to others in our hostel and they said that the dolphin swim was a necessity.  So when we came through Kaikoura we signed up to swim with dolphins.  The dolphin swim here is in the open water.  That’s important to note because the dolphins are not baited, in a cage, trained- they are wild dolphins.  In the morning before heading out on the boat they have you watch a video and do some minor training with us.  Dolphins are intelligent, curious animals.  To attract the dolphins to us in the water, we were told we have to make noise in the water and/or splash about doing strange actions.  The dolphins will come closer to investigate.  If a dolphin locks eyes with you, they are challenging you to a swimming contest.  They will swim in a circle around you and you must attempt to do the same while maintaining eye contact.  If you When you break eye contact, the dolphin will swim off.

The weather didn’t cooperate and after the training the excursion was cancelled.  So we went on a swim with seals instead.  I wasn’t prepared for the water temperature and after just a few minutes swimming around, my wedding ring fell off and sank to the bottom of the Kaikoura trench.  I was pretty upset about that for a while.

The next day we got to do the dolphin swim.

We dropped into the water three or four times and swam with several pods of dolphins.  After the swim, the ship made its way back to Kaikoura.  On the way, we saw more dolphins and even a pod of Orcas.

When we got back we headed on toward Picton, stopping at Ohau waterfall.

We took the ferry to Wellington and saw a few sites there before trying to find more LOTR filming locations.

Ohakune Ithilien and Mordor

Rangitikiei River Gorge River Anduin

Putangirua Pinnacles the Dimholt Road

Here I tried walking up to the base of the pinnacles for a photo.  The ground was covered with the gravel and shells that make up these formations.  It was quite unstable and I took a spill on the way down.  The rocks were very sharp!  It was a painful drop.  I think I sat there for ten minutes to compose myself.

Harcourt Park Isengard Gardens

Ruapehu, Mead’s Wall Mordor and the Emyn Muil

We also stopped by Huka Falls in the rain and Taupo.  Pulling into the parking lot in the car, you could feel the earth vibrate from the rushing water that is Huka Falls.  It was incredible to feel it, to hear it- that river was moving!

Craters of the Moon

The following day we drove to Rotorua and attended a Hangi Feast.  The men paddled down this river to the stage area.  We all crowded around the river to get a few pictures.  Some of the tourists here were very pushy and one lady kept pushing against me.  She nearly pushed me into the river, so I tried to give her more room.  She took it with a shove and fell off balance into the river.