Swimming with Dolphins

Yesterday was just a travel day, we went from the Coromandel Peninsula to the Bay of Plenty, Mount Maunganui. The drive was beautiful, all one lane roads through mostly uninhabited windy, hilly countryside.

Our campsite is right at the base of Mount Maunganui, or the Mount as locals call it. It was once an active volcano. Now the area is where many Kiwi's go on holiday. The beaches are beautiful, the surfing looks very good, restaurants line the beachfront, and the Mount can be scaled quite easily. Sheep roam the Mount and they are very sweet to observe. Our campsite has beach to the front and the Mount to the rear.

The primary reason we came to this region was to swim with the dolphins. This region is known for their high success rate of spotting dolphins and allowing passengers to swim alongside dolphins in their natural habitats. They manage to do this in a way that is very safe for the animals and the company we chose is also very eco-friendly. The boat has a swim bar (a railing) at the back of the boat that swimmers hold on to, and the swimmers are then trailed behind the boat at the same speed at which the dolphins are swimming. The dolphins love the interaction and frequently play and put on quite a show for the swimmers. If there are baby dolphins in the pod swimming is not allowed. Dolphins are spotted over 90% of the time and most of the time swimming with them is possible. We have seen dolphins quite easily and frequently in the wild before, so seeing them was not in itself going to impress us, we were really hoping for the water interaction. And Elle was most excited!

The boat boarded at 9am and returned at 430pm, a long day for all of us. And once again, Elle and Liam really rallied for us. Our captain was quite a character and lucky for us, he loves children! We had only about 15 other participants aboard, and their nationalities spanned the globe. We all donned our wetsuits and the boat set sail, we were on a dolphin finding mission.

Soon after we left the bay we spotted a group of baby penguins in the water, they were adorable and seemingly everywhere. Then, we spotted an enormous bait ball, larger fish were circling small fish and the small fish create a tight and shallow ball to protect themselves. This creates a boiling, bubbling mass on the water's surface. Justin was really wishing he had a rod.

I had a front row seat for our next spotting, a baby Mako shark (a very big baby) jumped and spun right in front of us. Those of us who saw it shrieked, and for good measure, the shark obliged and jumped again so everyone aboard got a view.

Later, we saw a fin in the water and at first it was thought to be a Marlin but as we drew closer it was determined to be a Hammerhead shark. We got quite close to him before he decided to go deep.

Then things got exciting. The captain radioed from above, and the skipper lept into action. All the hands on deck were communicating on radios and directions were being shouted. The boat turned, it went in reverse, it sped up... none of us had any idea what was going on. Then, the skipper moved to the rear of the boat to point out the object of so much interest and excitement-- a plastic water bottle, litter. They fished it out of the water. And onward we went. Did I mention that they claim to be very eco-concious? I felt good about retrieving the bottle, but it was a bit of a letdown after all the excitement it caused.

So, after nearly 8 hours at sea, we saw NO dolphins. The crew said that that almost never happens, maybe once a month. They speculate that because of recent rough weather, maybe the dolphins were elsewhere at the moment. We can come again another day for free... but I doubt we ever will. Regardless, we had a great day at sea, snorkeled a bit, met some fun people and there is one less piece of plastic litter adrift at sea.

Tomorrow we return to Auckland and fly to Christchurch, the South Island.

Homework

Still have to do homework, even in the camper, but at least the view is not bad! A little chocolate never hurts either. Cadbury is made here, we may be in for a Wonka type tour later this month.

Hot Water Beach

After our hike to Cathedral Cove, we drove a few miles to Hot Water Beach. It's popular for the hot water you can find 2 hours before and up to 2 hours after the low tide. People come from far and wide toting shovels to dig their own little hot spring. Today's low tide was at 530pm. When we showed up at 330, there was already a crowd of people digging holes trying to find hot water. You start digging and if it's cold water, you find another place and start digging again. In some areas it was too cold, and some too hot. My feet were nearly scalded in one area. It's quite interesting to watch and to do. We finally dug our hole and with a little help from our neighbors, we got the Sanger hot pool just right.

The hot water is caused by small fissures in the earth that develop due to large underground reservoirs of heated water, the legacy of the areas geothermic past.

It's a little strange and a lot of fun at the same time.

We picked up a few more provisions at the one store in Hahei, and had dinner a la Campa (Kiwi-speak for Camper) again.

This town is so small and so quaint that the one store in town is also it's post center. All the resident's last names are written in chalk on a blackboard over the register. If you have mail in, your name is starred;)

Hike to Cathedral Cove

This afternoon we hiked to Cathedral Cove, only about 40 minutes away, and had a picnic on the beach there. It's a gorgeous walk with unbelievable panorama's everywhere you turn. We met the prettiest, happiest cows on our way. Wouldn't you be if you lived here?

New Zealand

Ahhh, New Zealand! We already love you. What a fabulous first day we have had. We are at this moment sitting outside our campervan in Hahei, NZ, staring at the ocean crash against the shore. There are numerous islands in front of us and mountains behind. The weather is gloriously not hot! Warm today, and a bit brisk tonight. It’s lovely. (and Wi-Fi at the campgrounds!)

This morning we toured Auckland for a few hours. Starting with the SkyTower. It’s the tallest building in the Southern Hemisphere, but coming from Chicago, it seems rather small to live up to such billing. We went to the top for the view over the city, and although it was a cloudy day the view was still beautiful. Auckland is surrounded by harbors and hills (actually the hills are the remnants of 48 separate volcanoes that are visible from Auckland).

An interesting thing we noted in a restaurant was a hand pump sunscreen bottle mounted near the door. The prevalence of skin cancer is very high in NZ, due to a large hole in the ozone in the region, and Kiwi’s are vigilant with sunscreen.

We already see signs of the thrill seeking nature of the New Zealanders. From the SkyTower you can bungy jump to the ground. It’s a controlled jump, but it still looks thrilling, if we had more time, I’d be very tempted to try it. Or you can walk outside the top rim of the tower on a thin ledge, attached from above to a cord. I don’t know why you would want to do this, but people do. The Tower viewing platform has glass areas to step on where you can see straight down, it’s a bit unsettling at first, but Elle loved it. Walking back to our hotel we came upon a contraption that straps you into a seat and then thrusts you into the air like a rocket and then you bounce up and down. Looks hellish to me.

Auckland first reminded us of Seattle or Portland, then we felt San Francisco, with some British influence. Auckland has 1.4million residents, this in a country of 4 million total. This leaves a lot of wide, open spaces, which we found later in the day on our drive to the coast. We noted that we met very few native Kiwi’s in Auckland. Our taxi drivers were British and Indian. Our waitress was American. Our camper guide was German. Fellow diners were Canadian and American.
We walked to the harbor front and then took a taxi drive through the neighborhoods of Ponsonby and Parnell, and they feel very much like any of the gentrified boutique-y, café laced neighborhoods you would find in the US. The food and shopping looked good, but we had little time. After our consumer senses were dimmed in Fiji they were overloaded coming back to the city.

Next, we were off to check in to get our camper. Before handing us over the keys, we were made to view a video of how to operate the van. We nearly threw in the towel then, and jokingly said (but truly meant), “uh, can we get a copy of this?” When they got to the part about emptying the lavoratory buckets, we looked at each other and decided just to pretend the toilet didn’t exist in the camper! Finally, they handed us the key and said good luck! And we were off, very, very nervously.

Driving on the wrong side of the road, in a large camper, in a foreign country, with strange right of way rules was intimidating at first. Throw in Liam crying in the rear (he remembered how much he hates his car seat after being spoiled by not having one for a month) and nerves were on edge for a few moments. Then, as we left the city and got the hang of it, we were elated! It was so freeing to be just us, in a camper, in a country we already adored.

The countryside we drove through was bucolic and pastoral, those are the best words I can find to describe it, full of rolling hills and sheep and cows. We drove for two hours and literally did not pass one “town”. We did pass a few signs that read such things as “Mind Wandering? Take a break.” Or “Drive Tired- People Die”. And “Slow Down and SMILE”. We passed a random restaurant here and there, a favorite was the “Wickedly Good Country Fare” diner. We passed towns and roads with names such at Papatoetoe, Ramarama and Pukekohe. Finally, as we approached the shore and the Coromandel Peninsula we hit a small town. It had just a few restaurants and shops and a grocery. We loaded up on some supplies and set off for our campsite.

At this point we started climbing larger hills and mountains and entered windy one lane roads, deep in forests of diverse foliage, and every once in awhile glimpse of the South Pacific. The scenery was gorgeous. Finally we made it to our campsite, perfectly perched on a cliff overlooking the ocean. It’s picture perfect.

We have a really sweet family next to us from Holland, with two little girls. Elle has built in playmates already, they don’t speak English, but it didn’t stop them. Their family is living in the camper for 2 months travelling throughout New Zealand! I think a week in the camper will be wonderful, but I am not sure I could do this for two months. They are quite brave.

We made a dinner of cheese and crackers, fruit, nuts, olives and such and felt so lucky to be in this place. After, we took a beach walk and Justin cast his line out into the water, just to see.

What do you think Liam is thinking about Elle here?

Arrived in Auckland!

And are we ever glad!!! We are so happy to be here. We are in our cozy, air-conditioned, clean, modern hotel room. We had an excellent meal out, an ice cream, and a delicious bath. I think we will sleep well tonight. We are exploring Auckland in the morning and then hoping aboard the camper in the afternoon.

So, the Fiji topper is -- as we were preparing to leave our house, Maureen suggested we go check in the bags and leave our carry-on's and the baby with her (he was sleeping), then come back and wait for our flight. The airport was just across the road from our house. So we did. We had come to trust Maureen implicitly, nothing was ever taken or out of place while we were there.

Well, she waited until the last day to RIP US OFF. She stole $360 US out of my wallet while we were checking in our bags. I could not believe it. I had just counted it before we left, placed it in the bottom of my bag and put many things on top. Including Elle's bright red dvd player. When we returned, the DVD player was out of my bag. This set off an alarm in my head and I checked my wallet. Sure enough, over half my money was gone. I am certain she took it. We left on a very bad note. I told her it was missing and I insinuated that I knew it was her. She really barely denied it.

I am in shock, Justin's not. He's shocked I trusted her at all. In fact, he had just said to me the night before.... "if anythings going to go missing, it'll be tonight or tomorrow". Sure enough! We left Fiji on a sour note, sadly.

Anyway, we are in New Zealand and happy to be here!