Cricketing with dolphins

I did quite a lot yesterday. After a lot of fussing around and hassle, I eventually managed to get on a dolphin swimming trip which is one of the things Kaikoura is famous for. However, the only one I could get on started at 5.30am which is a little earlier than I'm used to. I wasn't going to let this spoil it, so I signed up and went for it. I said my goodbyes to Vicky and Shaun the night before and got set to go. The basic premise was - if the dolphins are interested in you, they'll play, if they are not, they won't. The dolphins we were looking for were called Dusky dolphins and are off the coast of New Zealand all year round due to the geography of the water. They are less than 2 metres long and have a kind of dark topside. They told us that they like it when we sing, when we swim around in circles with them and when we dive down. I tried pretty hard to think of songs dolphins might like.

We got suited up in (quite catching) wetsuits and set off. When we finally found a pod of dolphins it was incredible. They were flipping and jumping out of the water and just seemed to be enjoying life I was unsure of what to expect and it was quite amazing. I sang a bit, they seemed to like the Jaws theme and Van Morrison but weren't to impressed by Sennen (sorry guys). Whenever I was singing loads came and swum underneath me and all around to have a look. They really did seem love it when I dived under the water because they would all swim around me and look me in the eye. It was like they were fascinated by this weird looking thing that couldn't stay under the water for very long. However, when I bobbed back up (the wetsuits were super bouyant) most of them scarpered when I coughed up the seawater. It was good fun when they swim in circles around you. They liked to play and it was a game I'd never win. Basically the idea was you both swim in circles (I sang as well) until the human gets dizzy or gulps seawater. We then got some photos and we saw a pod of about 700 dolphins! We had 3 swims in total and I have no idea how long I was there for, but even if it had been hours it wouldn't have been enough time. It was a great experience and should anyone get half a chance to do it, do!

After my early start and swim, we headed north to Picton and crossed the Cook Straight to Wellington where I am now. As we got in our driver mentioned the 1-day cricket game between NZ and the West Indies. Having never been to a live cricket match I was well up for going, so a bunch of us set off to catch the Windies batting. It was great. I am definately going to more cricket. The Black Caps trounced the Windies and we saw some pretty cool dismissals. Some good catches and a someone getting bowled out with the ball going between his legs.

Off to Taupo tomorrow where you can skydive for pretty cheap so I might give that a go, but as I've done it before I might not bother and put the money towards something new. Also want to say thanks for all the nice comments about the blog. It's nice to know you're out there.