May 21, 2013
Lesson #1 of the day: Remember to use the power converter for EVERYTHING except cameras, iPhones, and iPads… I think I fried my toothbrush charger. I completely forgot about the power conversion. I know I saw a light when I plugged it in but then it’s supposed to flash while it’s charging. It wasn’t flashing after that and then it wasn’t charged when I was ready to brush my teeth for the night. The brush still flashes though, so it’s probably just the charger. That sucks.
We were supposed to have our dolphin encounter today, which I was super pumped about, but we couldn’t swim because there were no dusky dolphins. We saw hector dolphins from the boat though which are very rare. The biggest excitement of the day was seeing the humpback whale from the boat. It was showing off for us. Our guide told us they only show their tale if they are diving down for food or showing off for us! 
Apparently the dolphins are harder to find during the winter and that it’s rare that they can’t find any for us to swim with. There’s a first for everything, right? I’m just glad the weather held off. It’s supposed to rain later this week in our next location though.
Tomorrow we’re moving on to Nelson. I’m just excited that we don’t have to be in a camp-like setting, the way we have been in Kaikoura. Think communal bathrooms that you have to walk to in the middle night and six minute TIMED hot showers. It’s not terrible, but not ideal either. Whatever, it’s all part of the adventure.
We spent the last night adventuring to the grocery store and cooking a family meal on the grill. It ended up as a melting pot of foods, but that was the fun part! As I sit outside writing this, I just had a huge train pass by behind our accommodations. That’s such an odd concept because I’ve never seen one in St. Pete or Gainesville that I can remember.
Fun fact of the day: Kiwis call a cooler a “chilly bin”, isn’t that such a better name?