So, as I predicted- I had an amazing time. I woke up early on Friday (6:30am- crack of dawn) with it still being dark out. I desperately needed a coffee, but got one on the ship. The ferry is HUGE. I can only describe it as being a cruise ship. There's a movie theater, food court, cafe, bar, and tons of sitting areas, some with tvs. Sounds great. But I definitely was getting a bit nauseous on the boat. It was really rough due to the storm that came the night before and one that was expected later in the afternoon. All I could sing was "I'm on a boat".. youtube it if you haven't heard it yet. The ferry ride was about 3 hours.
We finally got off and tried on wetsuits, then grabbed a verrry quick on the go lunch. The guides were trying to rush us because a predicted storm. I didn't believe them and thought they were overreacting...hm.
Our gear was so intense.. splash guards and windshirts. Very different than lake kayaking. The plan was to kayak for about 3 hours to our accomodation. The weather completely flipped on us and obviously, the guides were right. Leah and got so intense trying to get to land. Honestly, we were paddling so hard and not going anywhere. It was windy, the sky was turning grey, water splashing us, and we thought we were going to capsize. And PS.. all of our bags for the night/next day were on board.
The guides boarded us onto a water taxi where it took us to the cabins we were staying for the night. Everyone was so tired, hungry and cold. We ate, checked out the few farm animals and hung around.
The stars were absolutely amazing. I have never seen so many clustered and covering the sky as I did that night. And..... I saw my first shooting star (or 4 for the matter). The next morning we woke up (6:45, another early am) and hopped on a boat to go dolphin watching. We put on wetsuits and the guides kept a look out for dolphins. When they found some that were safe to swim with, a group of 10 jumped off and swam to them. We continued to swap between the two groups for the morning.
It was amazing to swim with wild dolphins. I can't even describe it.. I could go on and on about how PHENOMINAL it was.. but I don't even know how to describe it. New Zealand law, we weren't allowed to touch them because of their sensitive skin. Apparently the oil residue on our hands can hurt them and it was advised to not touch unless they touch us.
But so many were literally right below me in reaching distance. It was so cool to hear them squeal etc. I couldn't hear at first because one ear was completely clogged with the lovely ear plugs. I was basically deaf in that ear But eventually I caught on and heard.. which was cool.
The trip made me become obsessed with New Zealand. Every part of it was amazing and surreal. And, it was definitely the best travel weekend I've had. It's hard being back in this flat because I just want to get out and repeat what I did Friday and Saturday. I WANT TO DO EVERYTHING!
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