Hectors choice

Our evening wear?!?
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We got to the Wicked office by using the free bus service, but nearly missed our stop before stumbling out the doors, an event that could have been prevented by not going to the foam party last night. Anyway we picked up our van and headed to the supermarket for a months supplies of tinned food and a bit of vegetation too (we are eating our greens mums). after filling her up we headed to Akaroa while Pk went back to the Jucy camper site to sort out the fact that they forgot to give him a DVD player and his CD player didnt work (that wasn't all that was wrong with his big green van). We got to the campsite, situated on the hill side overlooking the harbour, and found Mr Kember in a spot closer to the view. We decided to walk to town to see how long it would take to get to the wharf in the morning. It was a steep descent from the site to a main road, then across a cricket pitch and onto the beach front road. In all it took about half an hour to get to the wharf, which we decided was a good thing as we had to be there at 0830 hours the following morn. On the way back we came across a nice little cafe called By Jove (there are about ten nice little cafes throughout town) and decided it was a good spot for an after walk drink. When we sat down we noticed that they did a anti pasta platter and booked it. It included green lipped mussels, beef, ham, salmon, cheese, crackers, bread, olives, fresh pesto, sun-dried tomatoes, strawberries, pickles, gherkins, blueberries and olive oil and it was very nice. As we walked back further, we decided on fish and chips, or more accurately a chip butty. It was more than enough after the platter, so we went back to the van and had an early night....

The first sight of two Hectors Dolphins, one is on top of the other?
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We awoke early and on time for the half hour walk to the wharf, picking up Paul on the way. When we got to Black Cat Cruises, the home of Akaroa boat cruises, we were fitted with wetsuits, snorkel and mask and photographed in them for the official package. We then got onto the boat and headed out towards the ocean looking for Mr Hector the Dolphin. We came across two Hectors Dolphins not far from the wharf, but the male was spy hopping, which meant he was very close to the female and did not want to be disturbed. After about half an hour we came across some playful Hectors Dolphins and Hamish, the skipper of the boat, said we should get ready to jump in. The side barrier was lowered and we jumped in the salty water, not before Joe was given two stones to clap together underwater. The water was cold, but the wet suits did their job, and we were in there for just over 45 minutes.

Two of those we swam with
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At first the dolphins were curious but reserved in their actions, swimming around us, but after about 10 mins they started swimming in between the group of 15 and playing with us. The more we sang and clapped and beat the stones the more dolphins turned up to investigate, Hamish reckons there were 15 of them swimming around us towards the end. The hectors dolphin is the smallest in the world, and the rarest, it has grey black and white colouring and a small rounded pectoral fin. It is also extremely amazing when one swims right past your face within touching distance, and tracey, paul and myself all had that privelidge on this fine day. The whole experience was fantastic and if anyone gets the chance they should definately swim with these little folk.

another of our water buddies
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After the 45 mins we watched the dolphins for a while before heading in for warm showers. We got breakfast at By Jove and went back to our vans to chill out and enjoy the views. Or in PK's case realise his battery was dead and get a jump start and drive around for 40 mins to charge it up again. Later on we went to the internet room and met Jeremy, an english guy from Cornwall, who gave us some tips on travelling South America, and told us about Budget vans, camper vans you can actually stand up in. Tracey then cooked corned beef hash and we had a bottle of wine before bed.

Tracey in the 'Hostile Takeover' van, looking Hostile?
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The next morning we got up early and headed off up the coast, towards relaxation.