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TRAVEL BLOG ENTRY
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“I HATE hector's dolphins!!!!!” |
Well it was the last few days of family togetherness before i was stranded alone in Christchurch, forced again to fend for myself, before the rest of the family wandered off to Hong Kong and then home to sunny England! (I suppose at least i'm still away...!)
The plan was to see Christchurch on Easter Monday, before heading to Akoroa for a couple of days and then back to Christchurch for the final hours before the rest of the wittys' left me.. So off we toddled into Christchurch. Lovely place, me and Hol were thrilled because there were more than 50 people, and even shops! We went to the art centre and looked around lots of cute crafty shops before having lunch. Me and Holly then went to indulge retail fantasies whilst mum and dad did the culture thing and went to an art gallery. After a day of exhaustingness, we drove off in the direction of Akoroa, land of dolphins and the sea...
We arrived, and it was small, but picturesque and actually somewhere nice to stay rather than some of the dumps we had driven past. We went into Akoroa on the first day and wandered around, having a hot chocolate and reconfirming the dolphin swimming. In the afternoon it was roasting hot, so me and Holly sunbathed on the grass before the animal kingdom (i was feeding a wild rabbit and holly had about a million sparrows and ducks at her feet) whilst mum and dad did a long walk only to come back sweating...i really don't know why they do it to themselves!
The next morning we had brunch to prepare ourselves for dolphin swimming, which we were going on at 12. The dolphins in Akoroa are one of the rarest breeds in the world, as well as being the smallest of the dolphins (i am not just a pretty face you know!) We walked down to the harbour/marina and started to put some really sexy kit on (just like all the other days i've been with the family!) We had on, a wetsuit and booties and were also allocated a snorkel and mask. After this we took a few geeky photos, and got on a small boat to go out into the water. We waited, and we moved around a bit...and then they moved some more. FINALLY we saw some dolphins!!! I nearly wet myself with relief, i was starting to give up on them even existing. But oh wait, we couldn't swim with them because there was a baby dolphin there. So we found some more dolphins...but they swam away...and so we found some more..but they had a baby dolphin aswell. After two hours of trying...our swimming was CALLED OFF!!! I have never cursed wildlife/cute baby animals so much in my life i swear..i mean i know its nature, but can't they have mechanical ones for in case of emergencies??!!!
So we went off...and i sulked, quite a lot! Feel worse for everyone else though, i can go back to Kaikoura and try again, but the parents and sis can't! Have decided i hate Hectors dolphins now, they are teases and hope-builders! For the rest of the day it poured it down (see how unpredictable weather in NZ is?) so we chilled out and i booked my ticket back to Sydney for the fun and games of next week, i'm thrilled at the prospect of FREE red hot chili pepper concert tickets!!!
The next day we drove back to Christchurch. We went and got some lunch at a gorgeous restaurant were me and dad (mainly me) had to valiently drink a whole bottle of wine to ourselves. After that we nipped back to the art centre, and then it was time for me to say goodbye. Good on mum, she nearly managed to make it without crying, and holly told her to pull herself together at just the right time!
They left, so i braved it on my own. I did some internet stuff, and went and chilled back at the hostel for a bit. I then went out....alone...before i met some lovely people, who lent me the gorgeous hat for the very special photograph
previous travel blog entry
bobbo4775 says:
You just gotta go to Discovery Cove to swim with dolphins - they guarantee a swim with dolphins!