Full circle! Or closer to an 8,500 km figure eight around both North & South New Zealand. So I woke early this morning with 38 legs of this fantastic journey behind me wondering if the final link back to Christchurch would match some of the other many highlights. I was not to be disappointed!
There can be few better places to cook an early morning breakfast than the external kitchen at the Onuka Farm Hostel. Glorious views, twittering of birds and perfectly clear skies. Today was going to be a good day.
Jeff & Sami sorted the 6 of us out with wetsuits & fins and we drove down to the beach, hopped aboard the boat and headed out to sea to look for dolphins.
The water was incredibly still and it didn't take long for us to spot our first Hector dolphins of the day.
The Hector dolphins are the world's smallest and rarest, only a few thousand found around the coasts of New Zealand. You only get to get in and swim with them if they're feeling settled and "happy" with your company and unfortunately the first groups we saw didn't hang around for very long. So Jeff took us out to the open sea and around the dramatic volcanic coastline as a little extra before then coming back in to the harbour to see if the dolphins were ready to swim with us.
Soon we were joined by a sizable group who seemed comfortable with us, so we donned snorkels and fins and rolled overboard.
What followed was a truly amazing natural experience. About an hour or so of swimming with curious, playful and incredibly agile creatures. Unforgettable.
We could have stayed in the water all day long, but gradually the dolphins seemed to get a bit bored with us so they started to disperse. We climbed back aboard the boat to a welcome cup of tea and a biscuit and as soon as Jeff fired up the motor to steer us back towards shore the dolphins returned and we were treated to a display of swimming and leaping beside and in front of the boat.
Not a bad way to spend a morning and in a beautiful setting.
Got a shower and changed back at the hostel then took the incredibly scenic route over the peninsula and back towards Christchurch.
Next task was to take care of all the practicalities - fuel the car, check in to the hostel, leave my bike and luggage, drive out to the airport to leave the car then get the bus back in to the city centre.
It's quite amazing to see Christchurch city, almost 4 years after the first of the two earthquakes. There are still so many ruined buildings and some that haven't even been touched since they collapsed.
Parts of the city are basically construction sites.
Then there are some isolated islands with buildings or whole streets that were completely unscathed.
So after a walk around Christchurch, a couple of beers and a bite to eat I wandered back to the backpackers for an early night.
Dolphins don't do panoramas, so we end with this instead.
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