Above and Beyond

It's the last 12 hours or so in New Zealand, and I think both Mark and I are going to miss being here. For one thing it's summer. We've got the wash hanging outside in the sun and wind.

It's one of the Kiwiana's of New Zealand that has got my attention ever since I arrived in this county. Everyone hangs their wash out to dry. It seems like a very smart thing to do, here it's just normal for people I think. I'll miss it returning to North America

As for our last full day here - we ended up doing what we didn't think we would do.

Swim with Hector's dolphins. I don't think it was that magical, but it was certainly fun and it was neat to see all the different people from all over the world visiting that were so thrilled about it.

What I liked the best was seeing the smile on Mark's face, feeling the bouncy bits of the waves and the salt water in my mouth, and watching the cormorants take off from their roost just onshore. The dolphins are very rare, it's amazing that the wildlife and fisheries people allow the commercial tourism, but apparently it does help fund the marine sanctuary and funding of scientific and conservation projects in the area. The dolphin must like swimming around all the black buoyant humans making funny sounds and bubbles under the surface.

Because there were a lot of them. I didn't get very good pictures, cause I was in the water most of the time, but I got cold and needed to warm up so I pulled out the camera. From the boat I could see the dolphins heading for the group at warp speed, swimming sometimes two and three abreast and when they were almost to someone (like Mark) they went under their feet.

Cheeky is what the guide and skipper said. They got great jobs too, helping people appreciate nature everyday and watch dolphins.

If you want to see Mark swimming in the cold water, hit the link Dolphins and enjoy that you are warm and dry.

We also were treated to a very nice "tea" and pavlova desert from Wendy for our last evening with them. They have gone above and beyond for us making us feel welcome in their country. I just hope Garry's horse wins on Weds, so he'll be happy happy and happy. Garry and Wendy have helped our last five weeks be very happy and his horse better win cause I want to see Doreen in a fancy dress for the track. He says that we've seen more of the south island than he has. I offered to tourguide him around, so who knows, maybe he'll take us up on it someday. Hopefully in North America.