Back to Auckland

Well here we are back in Auckland! After the Renwick wine jaunt we headed up to Picton where we caught the ferry back accross the Cook Strait to Wellington. Because we booked on an evening sailing we decided to spend the day taking in the last of the Marlborough Sounds as the weather was absolutely perfect. Jos opted for a wildlife cruise up th Queen Charlotte Sound while I decided to do yet more scuba diving, this time taking in an old wreck site right out on the headland. Great day out. The first dive started with a preliminary swim with a pod of bottlenose dolphins. We'd just got into wetsuits when we noticed the pod approaching the boat so all of us made a mad scramble for masks and snorkels and threw ourselves into the water. Unfortunately no one had had time to don fins so we kind of just bobbed around looking somewhat inept in the eyes of the passing porpoises as they sped past us in the persuit of whatever they were persuing. This happens when you interact with the dolphins. Some days they are up for stopping and playing around/ taking the piss out of humans' swimming inabilities which is fine (I'd like to see them try and skydive) but some days they just want to get to where they want to go and eat fish and stuff. It was still awesome though. They have this cheeky kind of knowing grin on their faces which has an amazing effect of putting in your place as a mere human being. Anyway off they went and down we went. Saw an octpus. Didn't invite us into his garden though. Shame. This photo was taken on the way back into port from the dive boat. Same pod we think, about 20 of 'em all surfing in the boat's wake. Not bad for our last day on the South Island of possibly the most beautiful country in the world, I'm sure you'll agree!
P.S Mum: We cancelled the Bankok stop because this place is so good. We didn't fancy staying in another big city when we could spend the time exploring mountains and seabeds!