South Island, New Zealand

It was just so lovely. I think I'll let the photos do the talking.

Skydiving in Taupo

To get the full scoop on the skydiving, you should check out the blogs of Susan or Kenna.

But here are my photos from the big day.

Amphabulous Kaikoura

Kaikoura (South Island, New Zealand) is known as the maritime serengeti and we had one hell of a safari today. We woke up very early to swim with dusky dolphins, had a wee nap, and then back out to swim with fur seals. I'm really getting the hang of this snorkel and fin business. Quick tip: toothpaste in the mask.

We took a fast boat out to the edge of a very deep trench where a pod of about 400 dolphins were frolicking. The thing about dolphins in general and these in particular is they love to flaunt their mad skills. I watched with glee as they did crazy flips in the air and cruised along side our hull in little packs. That was cool on its own but then they let us actually jump in the water with them. True. It was a little scary at first being out in the open ocean with these largish wild animals swimming rapid circles around you. You're supposed to entertain them but I could tell they weren't that impressed with my "doo dee doo, doo dee doo" song. Several of them made eye contact and came close enough to touch - amazingly cool.

After a quick nap and our usual lunch of toasties (fried sandwich with egg and cheese in the middle - yum!), we wriggled back into wetsuits and headed back to the water. Our seal "enounter" involved a 10-minute walk over rocks and then a pretty hearty swim through a choppy inlet. There were many jellyfish and kelp forests along the way. We entered a protected cove, waiting for the waves to subside before sneaking through. The seals were hanging out on the rocks all around us and gradually they became curious enough to join us in the water. They get right up in your snorkel and check you out both above and below the water level. Freaking adorable but definitely stinkier than the dolphins.

In general, a pretty cracking day. If I wasn't before, I'm definitely amphibious now.

I'm exhausted and the room is rocking from side to side a bit with residual ocean motions. We're heading to the west coast tomorrow which is apparently rugged, glacial and mosquito-ridden. Hooray!

New Zealand Notes + Fun with Photo Booth

1. Driving has been super fun, especially now that I can differentiate the windshield wipers from the turn signal.

2. Benny Benassi is very popular here.

3. Zorbing = lame

4. Iced coffees = milkshakes

5. Milkshakes = gross

Fun with Photo Booth

Taken with Kenna's computer at a hostel in Nelson.

The Prettiest Water Ever

We did a day hike on the Queen Charlotte track (South Island). It was my favorite kind of hike: short and mellow with a freezing cold swim at the end of it.

I give photo credit where it's due to my travel-mate, Kenna Klosterman. She is an amazing photographer and any time you see a great photo on my blog, she probably took it.

This one, for example:

I have a thing for ferry boats

The sunset ferry ride from Wellington to Picton was absolutely incredible. I took a ridiculous number of photos.

Here are a few of them

The fjords (or fiords, if you're nasty) rose majestically out of the pink-hued water as we ate fish and chips, sipped chilled white wine, and talked about Alaska and boys.

The Worst Smell Ever

No, not Oprah. She smelled great.

We went to Rotorua because that's what you do when you're a tourist in New Zealand. Let me just say that if you ever come here, RESIST! I mean, it's pretty cool when the earth shows you its gassy bits but the stench is unbearable. And it never leaves your clothes, no matter how many times you wash them in sinks the size of a loaf of bread (comparison credit: Susan Roderick).

It was fun to be covered in mud, though.

A Pig Named Oprah

We had a beautiful stay with Bill and Helen on their farm outside of Auckland. I became a bit emotionally distraught when we left (no, it's true!). They were such lovely people. Bill gave us great tips on where to go for the rest of our trip and Helen helped us do washing, made amazing meals for us, and provided some much needed mom-style nurturing.

They have all the classic farm animals - horses, cows, chickens, dogs, cats, cows, and the aforementioned pig, Oprah. She's on the left.



More photos

Canyoning in Piha, New Zealand

This was a few days ago now but I wanted to be sure to give an account of the crazy adventure sport known as "canyoning". It involved hiking up a very steep hill, eating yummy dark chocolate, rapelling (or abseiling in Kiwi-speak) down a 150 foot waterfall, jumping off cliffs into freezing cold pools, feeding a massive eel named puppy, scrambling over giant boulders, and drooling over our incredibly cute guide, Tony. Mamma mia.

I'm not keen on heights or coordinated with ropes and carabiners but I managed to survive the day with only a minor scrape on my thumb. After our first big descent on the ropes, I was going for a well-deserved avocado sandwich and nearly fell between two huge rocks. Thanks to all those hip openers in yoga, I didn't seriously injure myself but my pride was wounded when Tony told me I was the only person he'd ever seen "axe themselves going for the lunch bags".

Good fun, excellent girl bonding with Susan and Kenna, and a lot of cold water up my nose.

More photos

Caqalai

So Caqalai is this tiny island straight out of my tropical fantasies (15 minutes to walk all the way around it, breezy bures, rainwater showers).

Snorkeling summary:

- 1 mile slog across a sandbar to nearby Snake Island which resembled a stranded frigate with palm tree rigging
- Amazing reef with 20 foot dropoff
- Swarms of little turquoise fish
- All flavors of coral (soft, spiky, bright magenta, ones that look like toadstools)
- Bright purple starfish
- Schools of tiny squid
- Very sunburned legs

The only other tourists on the island were a young backpacker couple from Austria (hey Vera, hey Marco - how's that finger healing up?).

We attended a Sunday service at a village on neighboring Moturiki island. The singing was straight off the Thin Red Line soundtrack and it made me very weepy.

We camped out with Wes in Suva to shorten the trip back to Nadi. Our meal there was the best Indian food I've ever eaten.

Off to Auckland...

More Fiji Photos

Bula!

After one of the best 12-hour New Year's Eve flights ever (hello, row all to myself and free champagne), arrived in Nadi. It is definitely the rainy season here. We had one day of semi-sunshine and it's been very wet ever since. We've stayed the past two nights at the Fiji Beach House on the Coral Coast of Viti Levu and it's pretty fantastic. Rather like a tropical summer camp, it's got all the perks (swimming pool, hammocks right on the beach, volleyball, comfy beds in our private bure, friendly staff, and oodles of handsome aussies and kiwis).

Today we head to Caqalai island via Suva. Wes from Darwin (Austr.) gave us the hot tip about a Methodist camp over there with rustic facilities but amazing natural beauty and killer snorkeling (hope the rain lets up!).

I managed to get some snorkeling in yesterday. We did an excursion out to a nearby reef with some of the most amazing coral I've ever seen. I have the weakest arms ever and managed to inflict the first major war wound of the trip hauling myself over the rough edges of the metal boat.

Best bits so far: Fijian massage, hammock nap, pool rugby
Low points: mozzies, strange mac and cheese