Dolphins and Fireworks

We had the wonderful rubber duck as our bud driver again. It seems no one wants to leave Queenstown so we had a less crowded and more relaxed bus. I felt the time was right to play some whale related music which confused the people at the front while everyone at the back was asleep anyway. First stop was Lake Tekapo which has a small church being photographed by bus loads of tourists. The east of the South Island is much dryer than the West and has vast tracts of hilly grassland with mountains on the horizon. This empty landscape is the perfect place for a dark sky park. The sky was too cloudy at night but we still had a climb up the windy nearby mountain/hill to eye up the landscape.
Our next stop was Christchurch. We wanted to go to the Doc centre but our map took us to some ruined buildings instead. Christchurch is famous for the recent earthquake which resulted in loss of life and destroyed the city centre. The city has been in a state of rebuilding ever since. After a trip to the supermarket and other shopping we were back at the hostel and ready to celebrate New Year. Rush (a party girl we were sharing a room with) and some others were going to the Casino to lose a load of money. We found an Australian man to take to a family park event with us after some hostel beer we departed. There was a live band, merry dancing and conga lines. At midnight we had fireworks and the Christchurch wizard intoned a spell for 2015. We got back around 1am to find Rush passed out in her bed. She had drank an unknown quantity of vodka and didn't even make it to the Casino. We don't really know what happened because she has no memory beyond drinking vodka in the hostel.
We had an early start to 2015 and had to board the bus at 7.30. Rush got up surprisingly well despite being in such a state. The bus didn't materialise at the stated time which confused everyone until a girl told us it was waiting out of site around the corner (obviously). I got all our bags aboard and then had to quickly find Marielle as the driver was threatening to leave without her. I found her blissfully unaware in our room. "I didn't see the bus out the window". I quickly got her on the bus before the driver carried out his empty threat. Marielle assures me the bus can't leave you if your luggage is aboard and there was no need to panic.
Our destination was the famous Kaikora. A deep ocean trench passes right by the coast carrying nutrient and food rich waters from Antarctica. This makes it very popular with sea mammals and is the best place for spotting whales and swimming with dolphins. The best time to see dolphins is early in the morning when they are feeding. We woke up at 5 and ran to the dolphin centre to be kitted out with snorkels and wetsuits. We saw an albatross on the way before being dropped in a huge pod of dolphins
We were told to splash around and make noise to get their attention. The dolphins were taking turns to swim up and investigate us. Groups and dolphins were swimming past and some would even circle me. After getting too cold to carry on I went back onto the boat. We then got to watch the dolphins from the boat. It is unknown why dolphins leap out of the water but I think it is clearly because it is such good fun.
After the excitement of seeing dolphins and being sea sick I was feeling a powerful urge to sleep. Marielle was as sparky as ever. This is because she had taken sea sickness medication which is banned in The Netherlands but available in Belgium. "I don't like most sea sickness pills because they make you drowsy where as this is more like speed". After I had my sleep I met Marielle again to try some Crayfish/Rock Lobster. It was a good meal but it was sitting outside by the sea that really made the experience