Swimming 'with' dolphins
Trip Start
Aug 14, 2008
1
20
Trip End
Sep 25, 2008
Paihia,
North Island,
New Zealand
Sunday, September 21, 2008
We drove almost directly there, stopping in Kawakawa to see the famous public toilets that were Austrian architect Hundertwasser's final creation (decorated with brightly coloured ceramics, bottle walls and grass on the roof). When we reached Paihia we checked into the hostel organised by Stray, which turned out to be a Base hostel (and rather expensive). We then walked to the jetty for our eco cruise (which was free of charge despite the fact I think my pass didn't include it).
The boat trip lasted 3 hours and was really good as we toured around the bay, stopping to see some of the 140 islands - some of which have lovely beaches and bush and the odd - very exclusive - holiday home. We also found a couple of pods of bottle nose dolphins, which was awesome! They came right up to the boat so we had an amazing view, and since there were no juveniles with the first pod, we had the opportunity to go swimming with them. I didn't have my swimmers or towel, but I'll be damned if I was going to miss out on something because of that and so I did something I have never done before... gone commando under a wetsuit (well travelling is all about new experiences)!
Now I had always envisaged dolphin swimming being a beautiful and wonderful occasion where you basically splash about in clear water and they come and swim around you etc in a very playful and relaxed way. What I found to be the case, was that we were all told to get in as the skippers bellowed in a very alarming way "SWIM! SWIM!" and you were expected to swim as fast as you could in the direction of the dolphins in order to catch a glimpse of them as they swam away. The water was 15 degrees centigrade and I was having serious problems breathing let along swimming! By and by the dolphins swam off and I had a better view from the boat than in the water! It was ludicrous - it certainly wasn't swimming with dolphins and despite the boss's 'explanation' that so long as you get in the water you still must pay as they are required to give (an unspecified) amount of money to the DOC, there was something mightily unsatisfying about paying $30 to watch dolphins swim away from you as you freeze your nuts off! So the cruise didn't turn out to be free afterall - still pretty cheap though and at least I can say I've swam with dolphins, even if I'd never do it again!
I actually felt very refreshed from the swim and since my motto while travelling is 'no regrets' I was quite contented that I am not one of those people who just stands and watches as everyone else gets involved. The second pod of dolphins were great fun to watch and jumped into the air a lot (including a baby one trying a mini version of the parents stunts!) As we sped off they all swam in our wake and were leaping about all over the shop - it was great to watch! The boat went as far as the Pacfic and the "Hole in the Rock', which we actually took the boat through.
After cooking some dinner, I had intended on an early night. But at a loss of what to do, I somehow ended up in the bar (in my slippers) with some of the other people from the bus and got a bit carried away - ended up venturing to a few bars and making quite a night of it - fun and random!
Day 207 - After a nice little lie in, I checked out of Base and walked across the street to a family run hostel called Peppertree Lodge. The lady there gave me a good deal and the hostel is really nice, with nice communal areas and lots of little perks like complimentary tealeaves and teapots!
I went off to explore Paihia, and although it didn't take too long, I found it a lovely little town, with lots of cafes and the like - the weather is gorgeous today - just like summer but without the crowds. I then got a ferry over the bay to the former capital of NZ; Russell. I wandered about the small, delightful town on the coast and took a look around the oldest church in NZ before taking a guided tour of the Pompallier. This is where the french bishop (of the same name) brought missionaries to set up a kind of factory that produced Catholic books for the maoris in 1842. I went in with low expectations, but it was so interesting! the building is built in the french style specific to Leon, and had a tannery downstairs to create the leather covers, and upstairs we saw the process of printing the books. The fact that just 3 missionaries produced 40,000 books in just 8 to 9 years is utterly unbelieveable when you see just how much work is involved in making them in those days.
I bought some cheese and bread and had a picnic in the sun, on a patch of grass by the beach and afterwards walked up to the Flagstaff lookout - great panoramic views of Russell and the Bay of Islands. Back in the town I lay on the grass in the sun for a while and sunned myself before coming back over to Paihia. Totally loved having a real cup of tea after dinner - the owners have got to be English! Spent the evening sharing a blanket with a Dane while watching Bourne Identity - good times.
Day 209 - Walked along the coast to Waitangi, which is the location where Maori chiefs signed the Waitangi Treaty in 1840 agreeing to give propriety of their land to the crown in return for the British protection. It is therefore a very important place in terms of New Zealand history. At the Visitors centre I saw a video explaining all this and then took a guided tour of the grounds by a nice, but rather slow maori named Vern. We saw the worlds biggest wkw (canoe) made of three enormous hollowed out kauri trees in 1940 for the signing centenery. We passed Hobsons Bay (where Govenor Hobson arrived with the treaty) and walked to Mr Busby's house, who was sent from Sydney as a representative of England to negotiate and live amongst the maori. We also went in a newer, maori meeting house (also built for the centenery), which had some amazing carvings inside.
After the tour I took a 5km walking track through forest and mangroves to Huraru Falls - it was a really nature-filled walk with lots of birds and being the only person on it, I felt miles away from anywhere! Had a picnic en route and walked back via the road to make it a round trip.
Back in Paihia I fell asleep lying on the grass listening to music by the beach before going back to the nice little hostel and chilling out there (with tea).
Day 209 - Left Paihia at 7:15 this morning for a day trip to Cape Reigna, which is the northernmost, accessible point in NZ. Barry the tour driver was one of the best guides I've ever had - enthusiastic, interesting and funny, plus he was very caring and sweet too - calling everyone 'Bub' - he seemed to really care that that everyone enjoyed themselves and it was down to him to a great extent that we all had such a good day.
First stop was Puketi kauri forest to hug a huge kauri tree (and benefit from it's goodness) and then to Doubtless Bay, stopping for a coffee at a little town called Taipa. Next we drove onto the 90 mile beach (which is actually only 64 miles long) and drove along it (yup, in a bus) almost entirely to Cape Reigna - which was really cool. On the way we saw a couple of exhasuted seals that had swam kilometres away from their home and had probably never even seen humans before, some oyster catcher birds and a couple of vehicles that tried driving the beach at the wrong time and by the time the tide had gone back out, they were almost entirely buried in sand!
We left the beach by a stream and stopped at the giant sand dunes for some sand boarding - different to Mui Ne (and probably safer), we used boogie boards and slid down head first on our fronts and I must say, I think I went the furthest of everyone! Such good fun!
Ate lunch on the bus and I think I may write a recipe book on making delicious sandwiches from leftovers out of the fridge - todays choice: boiled egg, sundried tomato pesto and beansprouts in pita - yum! Cape Reigna is the most scared of all places to the maori and strangely enough, as Barry sand a meke as we approached (song to the ancestors), the sun came out! He told us how the place had helped him get over the grief having lost his son, and there was definitely something special about it. Not to mention, it is incredibly beautiful and pretty awesome to see the blue water of the Pacific and green Tasman Sea meeting where the land finished.
As we turned to come back, it was by now a beautiful day and so we stopped at Tapotupotu Bay before driving back along the highway. We stopped at Mangonui for fish n chips, which I'm afraid to say, well exceeded ours at home as they use fresh fish and less grease.
Day 210 - Today was mostly about getting organised for flying out to Fiji tomorrow. Myself and a german called Daniel walked into town to burn photos / replace sunglasses and each got a smoothie and went and drank them by the beach. He left to hitch hike his way to Rotorua and I came back to the hostel to cook lunch and watch the 3rd Lord of the Rings with some other guests. Got the Stray bus down to Auckland at 4:30pm, arriving not much before 9 o'clock and checked into Fushion again.
