I went to bed that night excited and nervous about the dolphin swim the next morning.
Tuesday we got up and got ready for the dolphin swim. We had decided on the 8:30 tour, which was much better than the 5:30 one would have been. To be on the safe side I took a Dramamine before we got on the boat.
They gave us all of our gear and a little briefing on what the morning would look like. We got put in wet suits and I was glad that this time it fit better – really snug actually which was great.
They then put us on busses that took us to the boats. Our guy in charge was a guy named Owen who gave us the Maori welcome with a Scottish accent. We got out on the water and started hunting for dolphins. It took probably a good 45 minutes or more for us to find them and then it was time to get in the water. Due to the issues I had swimming on the Great Barrier Reef, I was worried about this but I was hoping that my excitement about the dolphins would outweigh my nervousness. Luckily, due to the shape of the ocean floor, it’s really, really deep. Therefore you can’t see the bottom – it’s also much more cloudy than on the reef. So, I had no issues! The first time off the boat it was a bit cold and I had to figure out exactly where I wanted my snorkel, but all issues were gone when I had dolphins swimming underneath me. They told us to make noise and do things to interest the dolphins. Dolphins are smart and they want to be entertained during their play time so the more you do, the more likely they are to stay with you. So we all were making silly noises through our snorkels, which was tough to do all the time! After being out for a little bit the horn would blow and we would get back on. We would all sit at the back of the boat and our driver, Colin, would follow the dolphins, using the horn to tell us when it was ok to get off again. After the first time it was easy and each time it was the same.
The third time we got off the boat I swam to the right and almost immediately a dolphin swam over to me. Determined to keep him/her close by I started swimming in circles with him. He would swim one way and I would try and keep up with him, then he would change and I would change or the other way around. I would guess that for a good solid 30 seconds or more I had my own dolphin to play with! I wish that I had been able to dive – I didn’t try and dive but because of our really heavy duty wetsuits I knew I wouldn’t be able to.
We got to swim with the dolphins 4 times. It was so much fun. Toshi thought it was really tiring but I think I was having too much fun to be tired. After the last time we got back on the boat and got to use the hot water hose, it was so warm! We then had hot chocolate and ginger biscuits. Tasty. I’m not sure how Toshi feels about it but I loved it and thought it was incredible. I was really proud of myself for not freaking out and having a great time. Dolphins! Somewhere I have a New Zealand shotglass that I bought in the gift shop afterwards.
After swimming with the dolphins we got some lunch in town and then headed to Methven. The drive is about 4.5 hours or so, maybe longer, so I drove the first bit, as long as I could. It was a pretty uneventful drive overall. We got all checked in to our Methven hotel and went out and had Thai food for dinner.
Today was a long and crazy day filled with lots of things. We got up at 4:45 and we were out the door at 5:15 to be there before 5:30. There were 6 other people with us, two of them were on time and the other four came together and were over 10 minutes late. We got in the bus and headed out. We stopped along the way for the guys to release a little balloon to figure out what the winds were doing and from there pick where they wanted to launch us. We got to the field and then we all helped get the balloon ready. It takes quite a while to get a balloon ready! The balloon is huge 210,000 cubic feet! It gets unrolled and then fans start to get it going until you can put hot air in. We all helped. Then finally we were ready to go.
Toshi and I were in part of the basket together. I did ok for about the first 15 minutes and then things slowly went downhill. I got freaked out and started to silently cry. There was nothing I could do to stop it. Our guide, Marvyn, was asking everyone how they were. I tried to say ok but it didn’t work… I was no ok. He gave me a candy to eat and told me things to focus on. I got a little better and then finally I started to enjoy it. The hard thing about a panic attack like that – because of my fear of heights – there is nothing that I can do about it. It just happens. Before I calmed down Martyn asked if he wanted me to bring the balloon down, I told him no. No matter how bad things were for me, I was not going to ruin the ride for the other 7 people in the balloon. I don’t think my pictures are great but I do have pictures from way up high!
We landed in a field, helped put the balloon away and then had champagne breakfast. Even though it was terrifying at first, it ended up being really fun once I got used to it.
Because it was really early when we got done – about 9:30/10:00 Toshi and I had some extra time. I mentioned the Adrenalin Park in Christchurch. We were about an hour from Christchurch so we decided to go see if we could find it. We went looking for an iSite – tourism place but had a hard time finding one. Driving around Christchurch was interesting because whole blocks are closed off from falling buildings. At first it didn’t seem like there was anything wrong with the city but the more we looked the more we saw. Finally we called and got the iSite. We then went and got the address.
We got to there, had our little brifing and were ready to go. They have 6 levels – each gets more difficult and higher off the ground. The first one I was fine with – not high really and simple tasks. I went first and kept Toshi behind me. Each pathway starts and ends on the ground. So you get done with 1, get down and go find the start of 2. There were some scary things on 2 that I’m pretty amazed that I managed to do. The first is walking on one wire, with one on either side and clipped in to one above. But it’s going slightly uphill and there are spots where you have to step over things. The other was the barrels. I tried to crawl headfirst and when that didn’t work, Toshi called to have someone come get me. Someone heard and passed along the information that I should go on my back and pull myself along the cord I was attached to – awesome. Although I made it through 2 I decided after that I was done. The first half of 3 looked ok but after that things were too high off the ground and tasks were such that you would have to look down to figure out where to put your foot. Toshi however did 3 and 4 before deciding not that it was too hard, just that he was tired – we didn’t have any water or anything with us.
We got some lunch, which turned out to be in a small town where nothing was open except Subway and headed to Punakaiki. We got all checked in here, had some dinner, walked a little and then I called about horseback riding. I convinced Toshi to give it a try since we drove past a place on the way to checking in for our hotel. I was all excited because I love horseback riding. I called, they had a ride tomorrow, there were spots open but Toshi weighs too much. The weight limit is 95 kg and he weighs 105. He doesn’t seem to think that the weight he put on is too much but I do. He put on 25 pounds. Had it not been for those 25 pounds, he would be able to go riding! Just barely but still! Kgx2.2=lbs. So he would have been just about exactly 95kg. So I’m a bit frustrated because I really wanted to go. He told me I could go without him but that seems silly. It would be different if he had something he wanted to do that I didn’t – like mountain biking – and we had planned to do them separately so we could each do our own thing but this is different. He doesn’t know what he’d do.
I think we are going to hike instead. We shall see.
It’s not 11:00 and we’ve been up since 4:45 – it’s time for bed.
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