Kaikoura, Christchurch

Day 10- this day was spent travelling from Glacier to Greymouth, where we took the Tranz Alphine (rated one of the top six scenic train rides in the world) to Christchurch. the train journey took 4.5hrs.

Day 11- Kaikoura

another 2hrs of bus ride this morning to the extreme west coast to visit the dusky dolphines which are only found in NZ. on the way, we saw a seal colony.

we were dressed in wet suits to have a close up encounter with the dusky dolphines! it was very comfortable to be in the wet suit given the freezing cold condition as the material traps heat very well. it took about 40 minutes ride out into the sea before schools of dolphines were seen.

upon that sight, the siren was blown, swimmers then rushed to the deck of the boat and slipped into the water immediately. the water was extremely extremely cold!!! however it was certainly worth the discomfort when i saw dolphines swimming beside, around and underneath me. :) i saw quite a few pairs of baby and mommy dolphines swimming together and i just fell in love with them even more! LG encountered a dolphine swimming towards him, checked him out and wriggled it's tail before swimming off.

we were advised to swim in circles, dive up and down and make noises to attract them. we followed the advice and had a great time swimming and laughing.

even if u were just a spectator on board, it will still be very enjoyable. either u'll be laughing at the swimmers or u will be busy snapping photos of these cute creatures. dolphines are very curious animals and they will swim next to the boat to have a look around.

after an hour or so, it was time to head back to shore. with the cold wind blowing and the low temperature, i was trembling like crazy! to top on the discomfort, the sea was very choppy and it made me feel nausea. that was my first hand experience with sea sickness. both of us ended up throwing up all the fish and chips and lasgana we had for lunch.

after we reached Christchurch, it was a quick washup in our hotel room followed by the tram resturaunt dinner.

what a christmas eve dinner! :)

i was pleasantly surprised that the tour operator gave us the best menu which was the cathedral dinner menu that cost NZ$120. perhaps i'm just used to the fact that tour packages are usually duped with cheap meals so that the profit margin can be higher for the operator. we could therefore, choose any house wine, beer or juices.

back to the dinner. the starters



entrees- barbequed chicken

egg plant with salutted veg and cheese

we were so hungry that we chomped the main course without taking any pic! only realised that after we tucked into our dessert. anyway, we had steak and salmon.

the dessert- chocolate cream pie

berry cream


to end off the meal, we had coffee followed by cheeseboard. woohoo. i discovered that i actually i like blue cheese! LG thinks it disgusting and pungent but i think otherwise! i actually wiped up all the crackers and blue cheese! heh. i guess it's just like the varied ways people respond to durains or smelly toufu but this is infinately better than smelly toufu which smells like rubbish.

back to the Cathedral Square where we went to Christchurch Cathedral hoping to attend the service but didn't materialise because we were 3 hrs earlier.

for the last bit of photos in NZ, click Part 6