NZ day 1 -awesomeness everywhere

The Pennys have arrived in New Zealand  - eventually !

Day 1.

After a 5 hr delay at Sydney we finally touched down at 4am in Christchurch and luckily a quick processing of our ‘farmer’ status and the quickest ever transit through customs meant we were all tucked up in our airport hotel by 4.30 am...

However in a trice it was -ding dong- 8 am.. up and ready to get the camper van... so two hours later and a quick instruction lesson on how to do essential activities like loo emptying and making sure the electric cable is disconnected before driving off- derrrr.... and we were away .

Akaroa - 75 km, two hours driving and straight to our dolphin swim..... almost immediately out of Christchurch the awesome surroundings engulfed us....and immediately I could understand what it is that gets under the skin of those lucky enough to visit this place.

It was all a bit of a dash really but so worth it... we arrived with minutes to spare- booked in and popped on ultra thick wetsuits ( well some popped them on... some of us had to squeeze bits and zip bits in.... bit like putting too much in a pencil case... you know that feeling of gently poking in and zipping slowly trying not to trap stuff in the zip as you go!!!!!

Anyway- off we went- 10 to a boat.... and after a quick trip out to sea the little Hector Dolphins were there....sweet little things about 1.5 m long but the only place left in the world they can be seen..

It looked like more than a bit of a swell... more like Atlantic Rollers to me but anyway we piled in to the water - yes open sea and a big swell..... the buoyancy of the suits was immediately apparent as Tim’s feet shot up in front of him and he went over backwards struggling to keep upright....however once we relaxed and trod water for a bit just going with the swell, the dolphins swam among us and took our minds off the waves and for a magical hour we were bobbing around at one with them..

Lowenna did incredibly well as it was a real mix of excitement, adrenalin rush and prevention from drowning --- all at once...

Once back on dry land.. the wet suits came off, thank goodness no one could see that bit !

So back to the camper van for our first supper with a view to die for over Akaroa Harbour... and bed... well at least once Will had fallen down a few gaps working out how it all went together !