Abel Tasman, the Dutch explorer, first came here and left very quickly when some of his crew were killed. Captain Cook was a lot smarter. He came with a Tahitian guide (captive?) who was able to communicate with the Maori and it went quite well. There are 144 islands in the bay. The waters are clear and turquoise and laced by scallops of lovely sandy beaches and are incredibly warm. I have been sailing and kayaking here. The kayak guide was a young yahoo that scared me half to death who talked like Crocodile Dundee. When we returned to land I practically kissed the ground. I was so very blessed to see these dolphins from a launch yesterday morning.
Aren’t they incredible? They were 5 or 6 feet long, and they are so giving, so joyful, and so full of play. They leaped in tandem in front of us and some rolled right below me. You can see the photo on the bottom, I felt like I was being given a good look in the eye and being thoroughly checked out. My heart went out to them. They are so absolutely beautiful. Orcas were here yesterday as well. I was told that they like to take the liver of the manta ray as a delicacy and leave the rest of the carcass. They will also attack dolphins if they can trap them in bays. There was a photo in the paper here of dolphins sliding down the snouts of humpbacks in Hawaii, maybe you saw them. Quite amazing. These are Bottle Nosed Dolphins.
When I say I am north you have to factor in that it is the opposite of our experience. North is closer to the equator so that translates to more tropical conditions. I have seen palms, lemon trees and well, orange sheep. The New Zealanders love to pull your leg but I verify I saw the sheep with my own eyes. They were definitely orange. “Don’t be a nana” means don’t be like a wimpy grandmother. The other expression I heard was my company is “tighter than a snappers butt” meaning cheap. I am readying to go to Waiheke Island near Aukland and then I leave this fair country to fly to Tahiti for the final leg of my journey, the Marquesas, in French Polynesia, via a supply ship.