Oceans and Rivers and Getting soaked in both!

Sunday - A bright, sunny morning with some banks of cloud, was summer finally returing? Well your guess is as good as mine folks! Still we decided to make the most of the mostly sunny weather and calm waters and rented some wetsuits, flippers and snorkeling gear.

Laura was not feeling too great and was unable to go to work or join us! Poor chicken!
She and Mum dropped us off on the Northside of the Kaikoura Peninsula and while they went shopping we intended to snorkel along the coast to the point of the peninsula and meet them there.

First task was to find some water deep enough to snorkel in, ths invloved walking over rocks in less than a foot of water in our flippers - we must have looked sooooo silly!
It was not long though before we were in the water and taken to a completely different and mysterious world... The water was pretty cool and murky as we swam over forests of kelp swaying with the tide, in varying shades of greens and browns. Attached to the rocks were pink and white encrusting seaweeds, then the seabed would drop suddenly disappearing into the gloom... All over the place were marine snails, large and small, plus all kinds of unusual limpets clinging to the rocks. Dashing in and out of the kelp were small fish, sandy brown in colour with one large black spot.

As we swam over areas barren of seaweed we often saw much larger fish like the Banded Wrasse, a blue or brown colour with paler patches that looked like stripes. There was also a beatiful fish that flashed metallic blue in the sunlight.
Shafts of light would penetrate through the gloomy bluey green water from above, illuminating the greens, pinks and browns of the seaweeds and glimmering off the scales of the fish as they flashed by.

It is a beautiful world down there, best of all were the anemones we found attached to the stems of kelp. They seemed to be made up of hundreds of tiny, individual pinky, purple sacs which then surrounded orange tentacles that spread into the water column searching food. Beautiful, mysterious and intriguing creatures....

Once we'd reached the point at the tip of the peninsula where the seal colony is, we hauled ourselves out of the water and clambered over the rocks to where the campervan was parked in the car park. After a wonderfully warming cup of tea, we relaxed in the sunshine before returning to the water around the point with the aim of swimming with the New Zealand Fur Seals.

The water was much deeper here and much more murky so that you could see very little when you looked down, but it was very cool to swim past and look up at the sleeping seals. A couple of White-fronted Terns flew low over the water just a short distance away and one even dived into the water in front of us; the most unusal view either of us have ever had of a feeding tern!

As we rounded each little inlet we kept an eye out for seals in the water and soon we found a small bay with quite a few seals relaxing on the rocks around it and one or two swimmng through the kelp along its margins.
We approached carefully and slowly so as not to startle them. Unlike the dolphins the seals were not too bothered about coming over to investigate and play with us, they'd continue meandering through the kelp, turning over and over or popping up to scratch their noses. The water was so murky we needed to be pretty close to the seals before we could actually see them underwater, looking under the water you would be unable to see anything then you'd look up and just a few meters away was a very large seal! As you got closer the general shape of a seal would appear out of the gloom up ahead and we could watch them swim along before they dived down, bubbles streaming from their mouth and noses, and zoom past close by before disappearing into the murk.
Sometimes we would look down to see a stream of bubbles coming up from below, and we knew the seals were swimming just underneath us!

We spent a long time mingling around this bay watching the seals resting and sometimes following one under water. After a good while we found ourselves joined by four large seal, again we carefully approached them and watched them under water. Rachael found herself lying on her tummy, head in the water watching one seal as he hung upside down, with his hind flippers sticking up out of the water, starring straight back at her! For what seemed an age they just hung there checking each other out through the gloom before the seal surfaced and swam off, twisting and turning through the kelp.
One of the seals even lept right out of the water right in front of us!

It was awesome swimming with these seals, they are so graceful and agile underwater, gliding slowly and then one flick of their flippers and they speed off with no chance of us catching up. A little scary with those large teeth visible as they come up to breath! Although they were not as curious about us as we had expected it was still a pretty cool experience to swim with wild seals.

Back on dry land we dried off and warmed up before joining Laura, who was feeling better, for a walk around the base of the peninsula along the pebbly beach. We walked until we came across another part of the seal colony, mainly yearlings here. We watched them lounging on the rocks, squabbling amongst themselves, swimming in the surf and even porpoising clear of the water. Then we headed back as the tide started to swallow our path across the rocks with swirling water.

Monday - As the early morning burned off with the rising sun it became obvious it was going to be another glorious day in Kaikoura. Again we decided to make the most of the stunning weather and calm sea conditions to take part in one of Rachael's favourite activities....DOLPHIN WATCHING!!!

A week ago we'd had the magical experience of swimming with Dusky Dolphins and today we were going on just as spectators to this stunning wild spectacle! A no less special experience.
Rachael could hardly sit still in those two hours we had to wait...

We meandered through town munching on a rather tasty icecream and went up to the look out on top of the peninsula to take in the panoramic views of the peninsula, bay and mountains beyond. It was an absolutely stunning day, clear blue skies, green lush mountains with only the smallest hint of snow and best of all a beautiful, azure blue ocean spreading out to the horizon.

12.30pm and we were once again watching the briefing video and boarding the bus to take us to the boats waiting in South Bay. Quivering with excitement we were soon heading out in search of Dusky Dolphins. This time the dolphins were very close in to shore, where the canyon comes right into Goose Bay and so it did not take long to find them. We then spent the next 2 and 1/2 hours in paradise, sitting on the bow of a boat, watching 50-60 dolphins surface all over the place, family next to you - perfect!

At first the dolphins we still resting, not too interested in the swimmers, surfacing casually and moving around quite a bit. They soon picked up a bit of speed and porpoised off towards South Bay. When we caught up with them and dropped the swimmers again then the dolphins really started to play and interact, and not just with the swimmers!

Up on the bow it felt like we were in a different world, oblivious to the action of the swimmers, a world filled with beautiful sunshine and acrobatic, magnificent dolphins. It was magic once again watching them do back flips, front flips, somersaults, tail slaps, porpoising, leaping, twisting and turning....and bowriding...They would come so close you could lean over and be within a whisper of 4 or 5 dolphins, calling out in delight would only make them more curious so that they would turn on their sides and take a good look up at us!
By the time the swimmers had finished there were over 100 dolphins around the boat breaching only meters away, glorious! One dolphin was even playing with a piece of seaweed and even the tiny, young dolphins were getting in on the act launching themselves clear of the water!

It was perfect, all of us together watching a spectacular display of wild nature at its best!

We did not want to leave but alas it was soon time to leave the dolphins and head back to the real world, not before visiting Barney's Rock where a colony of Fur Seals live, except at this colony the vey young, very tiny, very cute seal pups are found!

'No matter how many times we go out on these trips I can never get enough of whales and dolphins, I feel priveledged to witness just a small part of their fascinating lives in their own environment and on their own terms and it inspires me to follow my dreams of working with them in the wild' - Rachael 22.01.07

Tuesday - Could it be? Another beautiful day? Well woke up over heating in the tent with the sun shining through the canvas! Today we hoped to walk to Lake Rotorua where there are numerous birds including the rare Crested Grebe.

As we got ready to go the wind picked up blowing in big banks of clouds and cooling the day, still determined to go for our walk we packed up and drove down the coast to the mouth of the River Kahutara. We aimed to follow the river inland before veering off along another trail to the lake itself.

Of course we scanned for birds on the shore and out to sea, and once again Lee spotted find amongst the frey wind swept waves. Dusky Dolphins! about 20 of them surfacing close to shore, at rest now but as we left the beach and headed along the river we could see them starting to breach and somersault offshore! =)

We followed a gravel track along the river not really knowing where we were going as there we no signs and we did not have a proper map...The scenery is again stunning, despite the cloud cover, up ahead the mountains rose up covered in a patchwork of green fields and forests, interlocking to form valleys through which the river meandered.

Further along and the road seemed to disappear, crossing the fast flowing river and leaving no path of our side. Determined to keep going Lee grabbed giant rocks and threw them into the shallow edges to create stepping stone, of course with his supreme Spiderman-like agility he crossed with ease. Rachael and Laura were not quite as agile or balanced and ended up getting their feet wet! Walking along the river bank over huge, fallen trees, through tall grass, scrambling down banks and climbing over rock faces the adventure continued...

Eventually we came to a point where the edge of the river split creating a small island in a bend with two streams seperating the bank of the river - if we were to continue we would have to cross. Again we used the tactic of placing large stepping stones and again some of our feet got more than a little wet! We'd found the point where the trail is supposed to veer away from the river and head towards the lake. After a while spent figuring out where the start of this trail was, we decided we would have to turn back as time was catching up and the mist was coming down the valley hinting at rain. So we headed back to that island in the edge of the river that we had just crossed.

Joking how Lee had yet to get his feet wet, Rachael was the first to cross. One foot on the first rock, then the next foot, she wobbled for a moment before both feet slipped out from under her, both legs airborne she landed with a splash in the water! Laura immeditaely burst out laughing while Lee burst into action, splashing through the water (yes getting his feet wet) and grabbing Rachaels bag containing her camera, lifted it up and out of the water, checking luckily it was dry! All the while Rachael lay stricken with laughter and a bruised knee half submerged in water!

Finally hauling her soggy backside out of the river instintively she checked her pocket, by some stroke of luck her phone was in the left hand pocket which had remained completely dry!
We made it back to the van just as it started raining, without further incident, Rachael squelching along side the others still sodden and dripping with water. Back at the camp we had another tasty meal of fish and reflected on what had been a day of giggles...

Wednesday - Rather windy, misty morning but we decided to try some more fishingm this time from the shore. After borrowing some rods and a net, buying some tackle and bait we headed 27km up the coast to a small outcrop of rocks where we were told it was good for catching Paua (shellfish with a beautiful, irredescent shell used for jewellery) and Crayfish.

We made our way to the egde of the rocks, weaving around the rock pools and slumbering seals and started to fish in one of the deep inlets. Little fish darted amongst the kelp and we watched them nibble at our bait as the sun finally managed to put in an appearance, burning away the low cloud. The ocean was transformed into a shimmering deep blue, with white caps whipped up by the wind.

A short while later and Laura managed to catch a Dwarf Scorpion Fish, we were completely unprepared for actually catching a fish! As Laura swang it round towards the rocks, Rachael made a dash for the bucket, filling it with water before heading back to find Laura holding the fish down with her disposable underwater camera, the fish had managed to wiggle loose of its hook and this was the only thing stopping Laura's prize from flopping back into the water! We now had to get the fish into the bucket, easier said than done as we both could see the poisonous spines on its fins and body. Plastic bag in one hand Rachael kind of pushed the fish into Lee's mask and lifted it into the bucket.

Boosted by Laura's catch we all returned to our perches and continued fishing. Lee soon returned with a decent sized crab and then started to fish at the edge of the same pool as Rachael and Laura. The tide had turned and waves were washing into the pool moving the kelp back and forth.
Suddenly Lee spotted a huge, black fish swim into the pool and at the same time Laura watched it swim under her bait! Lifting her line carefully she dropped it back in front of the fish in the kepl, and Bang! The massive fish clamped down on the bait and hook, rushing off into the weed bending Laura's rod right over! Under Lee's instruction she managed to bring it away from the kelp as he grabbed the net and scooped it up!

Laura, the cheeky pumpkin, had gone and caught one huge, mean looking fish, well over a foot and a half long it had a massive flat head, bulging eyes and fat lips. We decided to keep it and find out whether it was edible and so as Laura hauled her heavy catch back over the rocks, Lee and Rachael grabbed the rest of the gear and followed.

Mum had been busy collecting Paua amongst the rock pools and was just as pleased to show us her catch as we were to show her ours.
With the tide coming in fast covering the deep rock pools that had been our fishing grounds we headed back to one of the other beaches in Kaikoura to try our hand at surf casting. We stopped at Peketa beach but no sooner had we cast out our tackle got caught on submerged rocks in the surf. A couple of sharp tugs and the line was lost, time to call it a day.

Back in Kaikoura we found that Laura's fish was edible and so with Lee's help Laura filleted the fish and we had a delicious meal of grilled fish and salad. The satisfaction of catching, filleting and eating your own fish made it taske even better!

Thursday - Off on an adventure to Christchurch with Mum today. As she has an Italian passport she was only given a 3 month Tourist Visa when she entered the country, which expires on Monday so she needed to go to the Immigration Office and apply for an extra 2 months Visa. Little did we know about the task ahead!

Laura was working and so would stay behind, and so waving good bye the three of us headed off along the coast and through the mountains to Christchurch. The sun was shining and despite a strong wind whipping up white caps on a blue ocean, it was a beautiful day.

By the time we had driven through the mountains and onto the flat plains around Christchurch it had clouded over and was threatening rain.

Christchuch is a very 'English' city, the style and buildings are very similar to somewhere like Oxford and there is even punting on the river. Street names include Manchester Street, Hereford Street and Salisbury Avenue!
Once we found the Immigration Office we hoped it would be a relatively simple, easy process, however once Mum had spoken to the guys at reception it became obvious it wouldn't!

With a huge form to fill in, some documents to find and the fact that they were no longer seeing applicants it became clear we would have to spend the night in Christchurch! and return to the office when it opened in the morning to hopefully speak with an advisor.

Leaving a lonesome Laura in Kaikoura with the the tent, a little money and one change of clothes, we settled into a campsite on the edge of town as the rain started to fall.

One thing's for sure, things are never boring or dull with Mum, she's like a whirlwind creating chaos as she goes. But she is very very loveable and its always a big adventure with her!

Friday - Interesting nights sleep with all three of us squisked into the campervan - put it this way it was certainly warm for Rachael sandwiched between Mum and Lee and no matter what Mum says she did not steal all the duvet covers! Mum had her own sleeping bag and two fleece blankets!

We made sure we were at the Immigration Office dot on 8.30am only to find 70 people queued ahead of us! Some people had been there since 6.30am, it was not looking good as the office only see a limited number of people!

The only option was to put the completed form and documents into an envelope and place this in the box upstairs to be dealt with in usually around 2 weeks. This was fine except Mum's Visa expires on Monday and for those two weeks, technically she would not be allowed to remain in New Zealand! Plus she did not have a permenant address to post the Visa to!We were all not sure what would happen as we waited to see the lady at reception.

Finally Mum spoke to the lady who was able to help with the questions regarding the form and explain that as she had put the application in before the Visa expiredshe would be fine for the next 2 weeks, and yes she could come in to collect the Visa in person - phew!

Relieved we made our way out of drizzly, overcast Christchurch and headed back to Kaikoura, oh the place never looked so welcoming! What an adventure!