Day 7 - Kaikoura and Arthur's Pass

Late the day before we had gotten the call that there was a spot available for Matt to swim with the dolphins the next morning at 5:30am (I did not feel compelled to jump in the ocean but watched the dolphins from the boat).  We were scheduled to leave on this day but jumped at the chance to get to go see the dolphins.

First we watched a video on how to attract the Dusky dolphins attention if you are in the water and what to do if you need help.

Once we found the dolphins the swimmers jumped off the boat and tried to get the dolphins attention.   The dolphins were very interested in the humans.  Matt had fun diving around and interacting with them.  The dolphins hung with the group for about 45 minutes.

At one point one of the other swimmers gave the distress signal.  Matt's lifeguarding instinct kicked in and he swam over to hold the guy up until the boat got to him.  Here is Matt giving the thumbs up saying he is having fun.

After the swimmers all came in the boat rode around and the dolphins played in our wake.  They were not shy about getting close to the boat and showing off.

We were so glad we had the opportunity to hang out with these cool animals in their natural habitat.

After the excitement of the dolphin swim we got in the car and drove from the East side of the island to the West side (about a 7 hour drive) over Arthurs Pass which is beautiful.   

We had to get out and take a picture.  It was a beautiful day and the mountains and lupine were like a postcard photo.  We ended our day by arriving at Franz Josef glacier, getting some groceries and checking into our holiday park.