South Island Sojourn: Part III

So, the result of the extended family Youth Hostel stay at Mount Cook is in….it was officially a blast! Nine of us in one dorm room, eating breakfast in the communal kitchen….what could be a better kid experience? Ethan said he wanted to stay there for the rest of the vacation! We might have, if we hadn’t had other things to move onto! We woke up in the morning to a bustling kitchen, Rice Crispies, Corn Flakes, grilled cheese sandwiches, yogurt and granola, checking in for the first time on the internet, and off we went on a hike up the Hooker Valley trail. It was the only day we’ve had on this trip that wasn’t punctuated by absolutely glorious weather. Instead what we had was a taste of the extreme wind that we know can be characteristic of the New Zealand weather picture. As we hiked up the valley toward Mount Cook, we were awed by the ever-changing view of the mountains that resulted from the movement of the clouds. We were also awed by the fact that the wind gusts nearly picked us up off the ground a few times! The landscape of glaciers, moraines, and glacial lakes reminded me of my earliest backpacking trip, when my family went for a 6 day trek in the Beartooth Mountains of Montana…barren, windy, beautiful, and glacial! It really brought me back. Needless to say, it was a good and invigorating morning.

The rest of the day---well, basically just a slog from Mount Cook to Christchurch. Slog is probably a bit unfair, as the 5 hour drive does take you through a plethora of different landscapes and climates, as it moves from high alpine terrain to rolling hills to lowland agricultural landscape and finally to the South Pacific Ocean. We stayed in a little town just out the Banks Peninsula from Christchurch proper, where we could stroll to the beach in about a minute. At 6:30 pm when we finally arrived, we unpacked our swimsuits and the kids took their first ever dip in the South Pacific Ocean. The adults found it a little too cold to entice them in, but the children loved it.

Jim here now. Wherever we go, the Kiwis say that this summer has been the warmest and most beautiful summer they can remember for a long time. This is also true in Kairoura, where we swam with the dolphins. In fact, the hotel manager said that they have not had any appreciable rain since October. That seems like a long time for anywhere except a desert. He also said that they had almost a meter of rain in Milford Sound today. I guess we timed that just about right.

So after a nice morning in Christchurch, we took off for our day with the dolphins. Carolyn and Lori asked me what I expected when thinking about swimming with the dolphins, and I told them I thought that there would be few dolphins around and that it would be pretty cool to be around them. I was not prepared for the incredible experience that we had. It was a beautiful day! The water was calm with no wind to speak of, and as we approached Kaikoura on the coastal highway, we had a good omen as we saw a couple of pods of dolphins not too far from shore. As we boarded the boat, I asked the skipper what the prospects were, and he said “clear, calm, and hundreds of dolphins out there today!” It actually turned out to be a pod of 300 – 400--one of the largest pods the guides had ever seen. The dusky dolphins (the type of dolphin found here) were very interested in interacting with swimmers. They would swim around and under and next to us each of the five separate times we swam with them. It was awesome, stupendous, incredible, scary, emotional, and… I can’t really describe it. Nor do the included pictures do the experience any justice.

In case you’re wondering why the dolphins flip and twist as depicted in the picture, who the heck knows? Researchers have spent decades studying these amazing creatures and still know very little about their social habits. Jim likes to think that they do it just because they can!

There is so much I will not say in this blog, so Carolyn can help. Needless to say, I had tears in my eyes from the primitive and raw feelings I got from this. I actually thought of my dad at one point, knowing how much he loves things like this.