South Island New Zealand

Ahhh finally I get a breather to update my blog.... I picked Garret up from the airport in Christchurch about 2.5 weeks ago and I don't think we have stopped for a moment since.... we have been having so much fun together it has made my trip even more unbelievable...

After two days of chilling out in Christchurch together, we started our journey.... our first stop was Kaikoura.... Kaikoura is about a three hour drive north of Christchurch along the east coast of the south Island. There we had an unreal experience... we got to swim with a pod of over 200 wild dolphins... My parents gave me a NZ tour as a Christmas gift and I chose to swim with dolphins... Thanks Mom and Dad!! Garret and I were very fortunate to get in on a cancellation list.. (some people booked their trip over three months ago). We started with a half hour boat trip to find the dolphin pod. The skipper pulled right up and we all jumped in. The dolphins were very curious they came right up to you and the more entertaining to the dolphins you were the more the dolphins stuck around to check you out. You weren't allowed to touch the dolphins because they are wild but you could definitely interact with them. You had to swim in circles, make dolphin noises, flip your flippers around and the dolphins would play with you, they came as close as a foot away. (Jess, Good thing we used to practice being dolphins in the pool, it really paid off) The first time the dolphin pod stayed with us for over 30 mins... Garret being the ham he is was able to keep one dolphins attention for over a minute.

In Kaikoura we also visited a seal colony. The seals came right up to the land and you got to get real close to them... You weren't really supposed to get closer than 10 meters but we were very curious and went a little closer than that... take a look at the pics are we really petting the seals?

After our beautiful experience in Kaikoura we continued north to Picton and just east of Picton we did a two day hike on the Queen Charolette track, another incredibly beautiful experience!! We started in Endevour Inlet, camped at Resolution Bay then the next day hiked over to Ship Cove. Ship cove is a historic site, apparently were Captain Cook first landed in New Zealand. We then hiked back out to Endevour Inlet and up a massive hill back to the car, very long day but worth it.

We then headed to Nelson, cute town... got some great Thai Food for lunch and carried on up to the Able Tasman track. We did a three day sea kayaking/camping trip along the coastal waters of the Able Tasman. Exceptionally beautiful area and we lucked out with the weather. Beautiful sunshine for three days. The pictures don't do the area justice. We saw a ton of seals along the way including 6 week old seal pups... very cute. One seal was flip flopping a fish from his nose to his tail and we got so close I thought I was going to get a fish in the face... There were also a lot of beautiful sea birds totally unique looking ones. Garret was on a penguin hunt but unfortunately the only penguin we saw was one that had been half eaten and floating. (As of today, his quest for penguins still continues)

From the Able Tasman we continued our adventures up to Paynes Ford in the Golden bay area to do some rock climbing. Garret brought all the gear and luckily I had my basic climbing gear so together we were able to get out on the rock. Paynes Ford was a great place for us to start, shorter sport climbing routes and really fun. I found it challenging because the grades here are really hard compared to at home... but we managed to get on climbs that challenged both us. It rained one of the days so we made it our rest day and headed up to the top of Golden bay to an area that is supposed to be one of the most spiritual places in New Zealand (at least that is what a hippie park ranger told me a few weeks ago). The place was called Wharariki beach. On the way home we stopped at the Mussel Inn for a pint, a local microbrewery oasis with huge mussels and great live music... so we stayed for a few more than one pint and had a great night!!

From Paynes Ford we carried on Southwest to the west Coast and made our way to an incredible rock climbing area along the West Coast named Charleston. We were blessed with a two day window of beautiful sunshine and climbed 18-35 meter sea cliffs. The seals were about 10 feet away from the belay station and the waves crashed on shore intensifying the surrounding energy. On one climb, which was at my limit for the day, Garret yelled out from the top, "hey Jame look dolphins", I took my eyes and attention off the rock for a few moments to enjoy the site of dolphins breaching in the ocean. Ok so I enjoyed the view only slightly at that moment, mostly I was freaking out at that moment but when I finally got to the top of the climb they were still there so I got to thoroughly enjoy the experience more while standing on solid ground.

From Charleston we headed south to Greymouth... someone described Greymouth exactly like the name sounds and well that is exactly what we found, a grey dreary town with not much going on... so we continued on into Aurthur's Pass. There it was our intention to climb the highest mountain in Aurthur's Pass, Mount Rolleston (2285meters). Well the weather wasn't cooperating too well so we ended up with a late 10 am start and Garret made it to the Low peak of 2215 metes and I made it to the saddle just below that. The rock was very loose, it felt like glass breaking underneath you with each step, very scary!! We made it down and headed back to the West Coast while enjoying an incredibly illuminating red sunset on the drive back.

the next day we drove along the Westcoast with intentions to stop at Franz Josef and Fox glacier and do some exploring and sightseeing but as it does on the West coast of New Zealand it was pouring rain, I mean torrential continual downpour. So instead we found these spa glacial hot pools and did the tourist thing for an evening to warm up.

Today we drove from the Westcoast inland to Wanaka, where we hope the weather cooperates with us so we can enjoy more rock and mountain climbing.

Hope you all have a beautiful day...