Swimming with dophins in Kaikoura!

I got up super early in the morning and went swimming with dolphins! It was absolutely amazing! The boat drowe us out to the tip of the peninsula where we found a group of about 400 dolphins! As he slowed down, we all found a seat at the back at the boat with our feet tracing in the water behind the boat.. All we could hear was the sound of the dolphins coming to the surface to breathe and all we could see was them doing acrobatics in the air! Then suddenly we could hear the signal and out we jumped! Everyone swam as fast as they could over towards the main stream of the dolphins.. and they were absolutely everywhere! Beside you, underneath you, behind you, over you.. soo unbelievably close! We werent allowed to touch them, but they kept poking us! At first i got a bit afraid..but very excitet! So excited that i forgot to breathe.. which wasnt very clever, so i hyperventilated abit!

They are absolutely amazing animals! And they were so curious.. they would come all the way over to you, and it was up to you to keep them there! So I was trying to entertain them by diving down with them, swimming in circles and making funny sounds! We must have looked soo stupid..!

Im getting an even flatter bum..if thats possible!

I am famous(?) for not having a bum..but now I am afraid that the little I do have is fading even more away!

I dont think I have ever sat down on my A** as much as I have done lately in my entire life..!

I wish I was a millionair and could spend loads of money on keeping me entertained every day! Its only so much you can do of free stuff every day.. and I always tend to end up in a park or on a beach.. Yesterday I nearly read an entire book in one go!! Thats alot of sitting down! Too much! I wouldnt think I would say this.. i miss working.. wow!

But, tomorrow, after swimming with the dolphins at 06 in the morning, I will be going to Wellington.. perhaps it would be better getting back on the North Island.. even though i do prefer the south island.. very much! Ill be heading eastwards.. and maybe those beaches will be more interesting!

Christchurch!

Christchurch is a wonderful city!

I spent quite a few days there..Met a german girl, Tina, there and we spent the day together..just walking around the many markets and playing around in the parks!We finished off the day by going to a Chinese Lantern Festival in the park, eating lots and lots of chinese food and watching the asian show! Those asians can really bend their bodies in odd ways!! We saw a carpet-girl, a chandelair(?)-girl, drummer-girls(very impressive) and lots of dancing groups! And then they lit all the lanterns! It was beautiful! Then in the evening, the two of us decided to go out! We met up with some other people in the hostel, and suddenly it wasnt just the two of us any more, but all-in-all we were 7! And what a group we were!One awesome norwegian(!!), Two girls from Switzerland, Denise and Madeleine, One boy from germany, Carlos, One boy from Switzerland, Ben, Tina from Germany and a guy from Japan! Take! He was of the quiet sort of type, but boy could he drink! He would normally stand a couple of steps behind us, drinking his beer, vodka or whiskey, and we would call him our bodyguard! He looked like a kamikaze-fighter in his leather jacket and sunnies!

Tina practicing "the devil-stick".

The next day I went to Akeroa, a beautiful place..but in the end it was a little bit boring! Akeroa is the french district in New Zealand, with french street names, french cafe's and so on.. I was supposed to meet up with Tina, but her hostel turned out to be located 30 min away from Akeroa it self and without any reception! I therefore spent the day trying to look as sophisticated as I could by reading my book and drinking tea at the many cafes.. after getting bored with that, i decided to practice my "devil-stick-skilles" in the park..and despite i hardly have any, i think that if i ever run out of money, I can earn some by just finding a busy spot and practice it! To my suprise, a few of people(older!) thought I was a street performer, and came over to ask how long i have been doing this for and wondering where my hat was! The hat to put money in, that is!!

Mount Cook

After two days of vomiting and no intake of any food, but fortunately it was horrible weather so I didnt really miss out on much.. I finally woke up to a absolutely gorgeos day and I was feeling fine! During breakfast I met a guy from Israel, Nimrod, who was travelling with a guy from Taiwan(what a mix!), and he convinced me to join them for the day! And that was a brilliant choice! The guys were hillarous, dont think I have ever laughed as much going up a hill before! We climbed to The Mueller Hut, and the view was amazing! Everywhere we turned it was snow capped peaks and glaciers, and in the distance we could admire the high and mighty Mount Cook! It had snowed the night before, so sprinkled everywhere was just a little bit of icing! It all reminded me of skiing during easter in Norway, and fortunately I had brought with me an orange, but no "kvikk lunsj" or hot chocolate..! We spent almost 2 hours at the hut, just taking in the sun.. and i thought Carlos, the taiwanese guy, how to make snow angels! You might think that Carlos is a funny name of a taiwanese guy, and it is.. his real name is Lin Ching Chan, but thought Carlos might be easier for us western to remeber! Yeah!

We met loads of other israelis, and Nimrod and his friends told me loads about Israel and the jews. Nimrod is 23 years old, and is now travelling after 4 years in the army. As a 20 year-old he was an officer. Everybody, boys and girls, in Israel has to go to the army. Boys for 3 years and girls for two. So in a good couple of years, if thing does not quiet down, Israel will probably have an entire nation of military or ex-military people.

After a full day out in the mountains, the guys cooked me a BIG meal! This was soo good! It did not come out of a can, you did not just pour water in a bag, and it had propper meat in it! I dont think I have had a propper meal in ages! It was nice..

The massive Albatrosses, seals and the Penguins!

Took a detour to Dunedin and the Otago Penisula! This is the capitol of the Speight Beer and the yellow-eyed-bandit-penguins! I also went to see the albatrosses..and they are impressive! And mahusive! They have a wingspan of 3-3,7m!! Its like a mini areoplane is swoshing over your head! And the sunglass-wearing penguins are tiny and soo cute! But the coolest might have been the unbelivably lazy seals laying on the beach next to the albatrosses.. i got very close! (Should have had my club with me!) Since this is the base of NZ expeditions going to Antartica they had a big exhibition about it in the museum! And the hero of the exhibition is of course an norwegian! Roald Amundsen was the first man to reach the South Pole!

Disapointing Queenstown..

To enjoy Queenstown, I think you will have to be loaded with money or.. loaded with money! Since Im neither, I was struggeling to find things to do that didnt cost more than 100NZ.. Its a very commercial city, and wherever you turn youll bump into someone who wishes to book your bungy jump, your skydive, your water jet tour or whatever they can charge you money for!

Soo.. i ended up doing a hard core climb up to the summit of Ben Lomond (1750 m!!) and thats about it!