The Cox Family New Zealand Adventures: dophins

Akaroa, New Zealand is a little town out on the peninsula below Christchurch. They also call this area the Banks Peninsula. On the map below, the yellow area is Akaroa and Christchurch is above that. It takes about 1 1/2 to 2 hours to get there. The roads here are narrow and windy so it takes longer to get places than you would think by just looking on a map. For reference, we have been as far north and west as Westport and down the West Coast side during our Southern Tour. The most recent earthquake in November 2016 was in Kaikoura, which is the furthest large town (but really not very large) on the Eastern side of this map. The road along the east coast up to the tip of the South Island (Highway 1) has been closed until the end of 2017 due to the recent earthquake. The road has disappeared or been damaged along this stretch and a much longer, inland route to the top has to be taken.

We had been looking forward to going out to Akaroa since we had gotten to Christchurch. We told the girls we had a surprise for them on Saturday so they needed to do school work on Saturday so they could have Monday off. Our surprise was a ride on this cool sailboat called the Fox II. Kayla had been so jealous and obsessed with a large sailboat in Mildford Sound we wanted to go on this boat that was a smaller version of the one we had seen that day. It was great because it was smaller and more personal. Halfway through we even got some great hot chocolate and biscuits (cookies) and the man that owned the boat was American so we had NO trouble understanding all of his commentary on our tour and he gave great history and information on the area. He made you feel like an old friend and the boat crew was so nice. Highly recommend the Fox II if you ever find yourself in Akaroa.

The Fox II

The water was so blue and beautiful. It was a beautiful day to be on the ocean.

LOOK AT HOW BLUE THE WATER IS!!!

Link to Sailing on the Fox II Video 1

It wasn't long before we spotted a few dolphins. He stopped when we spotted them and he turned on this soft pretty music. They loved the music and more came swimming up to the boat. You could tell they loved the music and the sound/vibrations in the water because it was like they came to dance.

They stuck around for a long time. We probably sat there for 20 minutes and eventually he drove along and they followed us for a while. They are such beautiful and curious creatures.

Link to Dolphins on the Fox II Video 1

Not much further, we spotted a big seal on the rocks. Can you spot him? He has his nose in the air. Mostly, you see them lounging and laying down so it was fun to see this one with his nose up high and moving his head around.

Link to Swimming Seals Video

The girls were loving the sailboat and the beautiful water and scenery

Link to Dolphins on the Fox II Video 2

Link to Sailing on the Fox II Video 2

We drove into this cove that was kind of a cave. It was called Cathedral Cave. As we got inside (I almost felt like the top of the sails would hit the upper wall) he turned on his music again and you could her and feel the amazing acoustics. It was beautiful.

Link to Cathedral Cave Video 1

Link to Cathedral Cave Video 2

This is called Elephant rock (above).. Can you see how it looks like an Elephant? The trunk is in the water...

Ava is wayfinding!!

Link to Ava's Haka Dance Video

Loved our day on the Fox II. It was a great way to spend 3 hours in Akaroa Bay

Our next stop in the Catlins area was Curio Bay where they had a petrified forest. If you look closely, you can see straight lines in the ground. Some are laying on top of each other. These are trees laying down and the thick mud laid on top of them and petrified them over the years.

Savannah pointing to some petrified wood in the rock

You can see this one really close up. It is laying down next to Savannah.

A big tree trunk.

Petrified wood inside this rock mass.

An up above shot of the petrified forest. Look closer at all the lines.

This is almost like a "Where's Waldo".... Where's the penguin? We went back to the Petrified forest at nearly dusk to try and catch a glimpse of a penguin coming onto shore and up into it's nest for the night. There are 3 penguins that live on this beach and it was know that they come on shore around dusk. We hurried back form a different hike to try and catch them. Kayla, Alyssa and I ran down and we were able to catch this penguin for about 10 seconds before he disappeared into the brush. Ava, Savannah and Brady missed it because Savannah was insistent that she run back to the car for her ipod to take a picture so she could send it to her friend. I told her not to and that there was no way to zoom in that far on her ipod. The above pic is me zooming in all the way. There were lots of people standing around completely silent watching this penguin. We didn't stay long enough to see if the other two that live on this shore came in before dark. Savannah and Ava were so bummed to miss seeing this one. It was a yellow-eyed penguin.

After our first stop at Curio Bay we headed out to Porpus Bay. We got there just in time so see some dolphins (or more correctly, Porpuses) swimming close to the beach. Fun to see them in the wild. the girls were antsy to get there toes in the water.