that I'll be sitting on the beaches in Bali tomorrow. I'll post an
update summarizing my my trip in New Zealand, but here are the last
few days:
Kaikoura - This is a little city on the north east part of the coast.
I came here for one reason and one reason only... to swim with
dolphins! I woke at 5 in the morning to get out on the boat and see
the dolphins when the waters are calmest and the doplhins are starting
to congregate. After cruising in the boat for about 15 minutes we
started to spot dolphins in the water near our boat. Within a few
minutes after that we were in the middle of a nice pod of doplhins. We
jumped into the quite chilly water with our wet suits and snorkeling
gear and started to play. The doplhins are all wild so it is pretty
amazing interacting with them. There are some things you can do to
attract them including making high pitched noises and diving into the
water. It was unbelievable swimming there. The dolphins would get to
within a foot of you and then just swim fast circles around you. You
would be following one dolphin and then another two would just swim
right under you. They didn't have any fear of humans and were more
curious than anything else. After the first pod had dispersed, we got
back into the boat and found another. Overall we spent a total of 50
minutes in the water, but it sure didn't feel like it! On the way
back, we got to view the dolphins from the boats doings flips and all
sorts of acrobatics. Our guide estimated the number of dolphins to be
200 spread all around us. An amazing experience that was unlike
anything else.
Christchurch - As soon as you get into Christchurch from the
country/suburbs something feels off. After this city was hit by the
earthquake over a year ago, a lot of people had just moved out of the
city. As a result it feels like a ghost town. Wide 3 lane streets only
had a few cars on them even in the middle of the day. This was before
reaching areas destroyed by the earthquake. Once you get closer to the
city center, you start to the damage. Broken doors/windows, collapsed
brick lots and empty lots where buildings once were. EVen a year
later, there is still a lot of cleanup and rebuilding to do and I can
only imagine what it looked like immedietly after the quake. The
biggest casualty of the quake was the cathedral in the center of the
city. The quake had taken down the iconic belltower that defined the
skyline and damaged much of the rest of the building. The downtown
area was closed for about 4 blocks around the cathedral, but they had
opened a path where people can get close to the cathedral and take a
look. It was unbelievable seeing all the damge from the quake. I had
seen pictures of disasters but nothing compares to the raw emotion
that sweeps over when you are in the middle of it all. I had to stop a
couple times and take a break from being so overwhelmed. Hopefully the
city will continue to recover and get back on it's feet.
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