Swimming with Dolphins

          Last weekend Tyler and I rented a car and drove to Akaroa to swim with the world's smallest dolphins, called Hector Dolphins.  This trip was especially unique because the dolphin's are 100% wild.  After plunging into some pretty cold water, we spent about 45 minutes in the water making weird noises with our snorkels so the dolphin's would come play with us.  Here is a video Tyler made of our swim:


Swimming with Hector's Dolphins from Tyler Grubb on Vimeo.

    

-Megan Waterhouse

Abel Tasman National Park

      
















           Last weekend Tyler and I set out on a 32 km hike in Abel Tasman National Park.  We started at the beginning of the track in Marahau, and hiked about 20 km to our first campsite at Medland's Beach.












          Once we were halfway, we were given a choice of high and low tide paths to take.  The low tide path was a much bigger short-cut, so we ended up choosing that one.  When we arrived at the beach we had to wade through waist deep water for half an hour trying to get to the other side of the beach.

After another few km we had to cross this bridge.

          When we booked the $24 campsite I did not realize that meant we would have our own private beach to ourselves.  This was the view from our tent.  We decided to build a small campfire on the beach and share a bottle of wine for a nice relaxing night.

Medland's Beach campsite

          The next day we hiked a little over 12 km from Medland's beach to reach the Awaroa lodge.  By the end of this day I was extremely sore and had blisters on my feet, so we sat down for a nice dinner at the lodge restaurant.  After that we hiked another 2 km and set up our tent at a new campsite.

          The next morning we woke up early to head back to the Awaroa beach so we could catch a water taxi back to Marahau.  On the taxi back we saw jellyfish, stingrays, and seals.  The video Tyler made probably tells a better story.


Abel Tasman Track from Tyler Grubb on Vimeo.

-Megan Waterhouse

An Extended Spring Break...

          On September 4th, a 7.1 magnitude earthquake struck Christchurch.  I was a few hours away in Wanaka and did not wake up from the quake.  Although no one died from the earthquake, it ended up causing severe damage in the Canterbury region.

          I later found out that school had been closed down for another two weeks, so I ended up having a month long Spring Break.  Students were encouraged to not return to school, so I stayed with Tyler in Dunedin for two weeks.  

          On the way to Wanaka Tyler and I stopped to stay at Mount Cook for the night and did a quick hike the next day to see the Tasman Glacier.

         The scenery on the drive to Wanaka from Mount Cook was gorgeous.  We stopped at a salmon farm to pick up lunch halfway through the trip and were able to feed the salmon.  Talk about fresh.

         When we reached Wanaka, Tyler and I spent the first day at the Puzzling World.  Puzzling world has a bunch of illusions and mazes in it, and made for a very entertaining day.  

Roman style bathrooms

          We ended the day doing a really difficult maze outside.  I think I easily ran over a mile by the end of the maze.

         The next day we woke up early to go skiing at the Cadrona Ski Area.  I convinced Tyler to go skiing with me that day and it was quite a sight watching him struggle to get the hang of it.  This was also my first time skiing in about ten years, so it was a pretty interesting experience relearning how to ski myself.  

          We eventually headed back to Dunedin where I stayed for the remaining two weeks of my break to avoid the earthquake aftershocks.  Dunedin has a really great botanic garden that we went to a few of the days.  As you can probably tell, my favorite part was the duck pond.

          The gardens also have a bird aviary with lots of exotic birds I wasn't supposed to feed.

          Later in the week we went on a beer tour at the Speight's factory.  Speight's is one of the most popular beers in New Zealand, and my favorite!  We learned all about how the beer is made, and were able to sample the finished products at the end of the tour.  Later that week we went to the casino... but you don't want to hear about that.

          

  -Megan Waterhouse