Stopping briefly in bohemian Nelson to stock up on second hand books and pizza, we soon found ourselves in Blenheim, home of New Zealand's Sauvignon Blanc, made famous by wineries such as Cloudy Bay, Villa Maria and Marlborough Estate. Hmmm, there appears to be a pattern emerging. So we hopped on the booze bus and headed off for more free tastings. It's a hard life. Mainly for our livers.
Next stop, Kaikoura, a pretty coastal town with a deep off-shore shelf which attracts huge pods of dolphins and schools of whales (other collective nouns available on request). So we headed out on the 6.30AM (yes, AM) boat to swim with the dolphins. But this is no 'Florida-style' experience - the dolphins are completely wild and not fed or enticed to the boat in any way. Some days they'll check you out & some days they won't. As the sun rose over the see we saw scores of fins in the water, and jumped in with our snorkels. It was amazing! Dolphins swimming under, over & next to us & really interested in the noises we were making. They like to maintain eye contact and try to get you to swim in circles with them - one way, and then the other. Kristian did lots of duck diving which they went mad for, with 4 or 5 dolphins diving down with him & then coming up & breaking the water as he did! Cool. Well, bloody freezing actually but worth the mild hyperthermia!
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