Leaving Kaikoura, NZ – I didn’t plan to go to Kaikoura. My New Zealand trip was due to end in Queenstown, but a turn of events four days into my Stray journey fortuitously shook up my whole planned itinerary. Because of it, I choose to extend my pass to travel on the bus back up to Auckland instead of flying. Its crazy to think that I would have missed it otherwise. It’s been one of the best 18 hours of my travels. Funny how fate works.
We arrived into Kaikoura in the early afternoon on the 29th January. Myself and a few others had signed up to the sea fishing trip with Gerry. Normally, I’d rather do anything but fishing. However a previous fellow traveller, Swedish David, had told me how amazing it was, one of his highlights. His tale prusaded me. So after checking in to the hostel, we headed out. Two trips were required, so Stacie, Keith, Kelli and I opted to take the second boat. To pass the time, we walked up to the local seal colony for a look. There were several large seals on the shore, sunning themselves, tame enough to almost touch. Incredible to see, but I was itching to get fishing!
Finally our turn came. And boy were we not disappointed! Although it was meant to be a fishing trip it turned out to be a much bigger experience. During our boat journey we spotted the hector dolphin (one of the smallest and rarest marine dolphins in the world), the acrobatic dusty dolphin, a blue whale (also very rare), two other whales, two types of albatross, the little blue penguin, and a four foot shark! For the actual fishing portion, we brought up a rock lobster cage. Sadly they were all too small to keep, but were reassured that some were caught in the morning for us to eat later. Then we got our rods out. That’s when the shark showed up! Just as I put my bait in the water. I panicked at the thought of the shark taking a liking to my rod and dragging me overboard! Luckily he swam away. I caught six fish, which I was rather proud of. Can’t remember ever going fishing before. I suppose we could have caught more, but the swell has rather high and we were all getting a little seasick.
Back on land, we went to Gerry’s house for a cheese and wine tasting, followed by boiling up the rock lobster (crayfish) and having a never ending feast with copious Sauvignon Blanc. Such a fab evening hanging out in the summer evening sun, chatting with new friends and cracking open lobster.
But the evening didn’t finish there! After we ate our fill of crayfish, we took the filleted white fish we caught to the local chippy, who fried it up and threw in some chips. We ate it all on the beach around a small fire, watching the sunset, with the sound of the ocean waves hitting the shore. Best value activity on Stray. Our whole experience cost only $25 more than getting a one piece of crayfish dinner in town. Loved it.
Five hours later, I was up before the sunrise to don a wet suit and head out to the Pacific Ocean to swim with the acrobatic Dusky Dolphins. One of the smaller dolphins, reaching just less than 2 metres in length, they are known to form large pods off the coast of Kaikoura and enjoy interacting with the boat and humans!
I didn’t know what to make of it all when I first slide off the back of the boat into the cold water. We were told to keep our heads down in the water, make weird noises and act dolphin like. Firstly, I wasn’t too keen on looking like a dolphin when I had seen a shark nearby only 12 hours ago. Secondly, it just felt stupid! The water was murky. You couldn’t really see anything and with your head down you couldn’t tell where you were going. And to top it off you were singing songs and humming tunes. But the risk and the humility were SO worth it. The thrill of that first dolphin swimming past me will remain as one of my favourite travel memories. But there wasn’t just one! We were literally swimming amongst a pod of 400 at one point. And ever curious, they’d come right up to you! I shrieked when one swam towards straight at my face nearly colliding with my nose.
Out of the water watching them was just as spectacular! These dolphins just love to play. They were swimming right next to the boat and a little way away, they were doing backflips, flopping onto the water. Our skipper said that the counted one dolphin doing 47 flips in a row. Crazy! And they are promiscuous creatures. The same skipper said he saw one female mate with five different males in less than 2 minutes! We saw a bit of that action too!
Kaikoura now rates as one of the top places of my travels. And one crazy event brought me there.
My brother told me once that life is about choices and we are where we are because of the choices we make. At the time, I took it to mean that we control our destiny. I have to think twice about that now. Yes to some extent that is the case, but we can’t always control the knock on effects of our choices. Two months ago in Ubud, Bali I choose to take a house sitting job in Auckland over the new year. This choice meant that I had to move the start date of my Stray travel to 4 January, a day latter than planned. I often wonder how my time in New Zealand would have played out had I not made that choice. I know for sure that I wouldn’t have had Mozzie as my driver, who has become like a little brother and great lifetime friend and supported me through a very traumatic life event. I wouldn’t have had the same amazing travel companions from Auckland to Queenstown, who were such a supportive and lovely community and had me smiling from ear to ear everyday! And I probably wouldn’t have been involved in the event that led me to Kaikoura. New Zealand has had a life changing impact on me because of that choice, but the effects of that choice were pretty much out of my control. Funny how life plays out sometimes. I wouldn’t have changed any of it though for the world!
