Albatross, Sperm Whales, and Dusky Dolphins... Oh My!

Yesterday... where to begin...
After stepping off the bus (8hrs) at 6:30 in the morning in Wellington, I made my way to the Bluebridge Ferry terminal to check-in, hopped on the ferry around 7:45 for the three hour ride over to Picton, the very northern tip of the South Island. I spent a couple of hours just wandering around this quaint little town with a beautiful park/harbor and ate some GREAT fish and chips. Went in a few great little towny stores and enjoyed people watching. However, I also did something so ridiculously stupid that I have to tell y'all so you can have a good laugh at me - I got so excited to see a post box cause I had about five postcards written and ready to go (or so I was thinking) stamps and all, so I crossed the street and dumped them in the box - immediately as they left my hand I had the realization that I hadn't put any addresses on them - just names (cause my address book was buried in my big pack and I thought I'd just "do it later") DUMB!!!! Even more dumb because it was Sat. and Post Shops are closed here on Saturdays - even more dumb because stamps are like $2 a piece and I had already put them on there! ARG! I did admit my oversight to the lady at the i-site place who then promptly laughed at my misfortune and told me if I met the postman at the box at 4 I could probably get them back... too bad my train was leaving at 2pm. :( So - the moral is - NEVER mail anything after 12 or more hours of continuous travel and a serious lack of sleep :) Trina, Mom, Dad, Kaitlin, and Brittney... imagine you're getting a really cool postcard from New Zealand in about 5 or 6 days, ok? I'm an idiot.
Anyway, boarded the train to Kaikoura which is another tiny seaside town, but this one was MAGNIFICENT! The train ride was right along the coast, we got to see a huge colony of seals, mountains with snow that were gorgeous, and the ocean/forest the whole way! They even had an outside viewing deck carriage, so it felt like you were just right there in the middle of it all. I met a great French guy, Jon Dominique on the train and we talked the entire way... we actually ended up going to dinner in town, after walking a track across the entire peninsula at sunset (beautiful), and watched as the full moon and amazing sky full of bright stars came out as we sat on the beach still chatting away (slightly chilly, but otherwise completely perfect). OH, and the dinner... the town's name means food of the sea/crayfish, which is a type of rock lobster I think. It was absolutely delicious... we really treated ourselves and even tried some of the much talked about New Zealand wine - yum!
So, today I got up at o'dark thirty AGAIN (I'm setting a record I think... cause y'all know, mornings and I don't get along!) and walked to meet up with my boat to go SWIMMING WITH THE DOLPHINS!!! They say this is one of the best places in the world to do this activity and it's something I've always wanted to do, so I went for it! WOWOWOWOWOW! There were ten of us crazy people jumping into 8 degree (C) water with FULL wetsuits (headcover, socks, gloves, the works) at 8am this morning! :) My face felt like it wasn't attached anymore... and forget about feeling any toes or fingers... BUT I did forget about all of that because we were swimming and playing in a pod of over 500 dolphins!!!!!!!!!!! Yep, I said it 500! I couldn't believe my eyes. When you put your mask/snorkel in the water and looked down, they were absolutely everywhere... I mean under you, swimming circles around you, swimming nose first toward you... EVERYWHERE! Hundreds of dolphins swimming and playing in the water - not giving a rats tail that you're there making weird sounds, waving to them, swimming next to them if you could keep up, etc. For two hours (three different pods) we continued this amazing effort to be with these wild creatures in their natural habitat! Afterwards, back on the boat, we all got to pour hot water all over our bodies, strip out of the wetsuits, get warm, have some hot chocolate (again... these guides are good), and continue learning about and watching ALL of the dolphins! It's crazy to see them somersault, jump. flip, and then all dart off together in the pod in a completely different direction super fast! Another GREAT New Zealand experience!
The whale/albatross watching boat was gravely less exciting and I probably could have saved the exorbitant amount they charged, BUT on the optimistic side I'd never seen a giant sperm whale and now I have up close and personal and even got to see him to a tail flip which I guess is unusual for them. I also learned a few things about why the wildlife is so magnificent there in Kaikoura (super deep waters right off shore) and how sperm whales got their name... pretty funny. It was also neat to see the albatross birds that I'd only seen in movies.
Now I took the same train from Kaikoura to Christchurch- I don't think I'm going to spend much time here. It's hard to want to be in a city when there's so much amazing nature to be seen! I'm thinking about trying to catch another train tomorrow through Arthur's Pass - supposed to be one of the best train journeys - from flat land in Christchurch on one side of the island climbing up the mountains all the way back down to the sea on the opposite coast of the island. We'll see...
Hope y'all are well!
Kate