twelve countries twelve months

After two weeks of leisurely driving around and sightseeing, our New Zealand trip suddenly stepped up a gear, when I threw myself out of a plane at 12,000 feet.  

I have always fancied a parachute jump and I’m glad I waited until New Zealand to do it.  The views of the massive emerald Lake Taupo (which is larger than Singapore) in front of the volcanic cone of Mount Ngauruhoe (which featured as Mount Doom in The Lord of the Rings films) made the drop even more unforgettable.  Rach was being a wimp and didn’t join me, but now slightly regrets her decision and is threatening to find some even more impressive scenery elsewhere in New Zealand and do a jump of her own!  

Not wanting to slow things down, we pulled on some wetsuits and dived into the waters of Queen Charlotte Sound to go swimming with dolphins.  It was quite an event.  First we had to find some dolphins and we were quite lucky as we managed to track down a group of bottlenose dolphins after only half an hour.  Then we sat on the back of the boat while the captain positioned it in front of the dolphins.  When he was happy he shut off the engines and it was go go go!  We jumped into the water, stuck our heads under and swam around making as much noise as possible.  We had to make whatever noise we though would attract the dolphins and ended up sounding like a right bunch of clowns!  The first few times the dolphins didn’t seem to be interested, but after four or five attempts they stayed and swam with us.  It was amazing to be in the water and make eye contact with dolphins only a few centimeters away.  

After we got out the dolphins stayed around our boat and we were able to watch them jump, feed and generally mess around right up by the edge of our boat.  

  

  

Abel Tasman National Park was next up.  The best way to explore the park was by kayak, so it was time for Rach and I to try a bit of teamwork; we climbed aboard a two person sea kayak and cruised the coast.  We passed two seal colonies and explored tidal lagoons.  It turns out we were a pretty slick team – I sat at the back supplying the power and controlling the steering, while Rach sat at the front taking all the photos!  

~ by robcheek on April 29, 2010.

Posted in travel
Tags: beach, new zealand, wildlife