Dubai Marina

I intended to do the JBR walk today but a bit of confusion with the taxi driver took me to the Marina waterfront... not a major problem but since there's no way to walk from the Marina waterfront to JBR (Dubai isn't big on pavements and isn't really the sort of city you can walk around sadly) I spent most of the day exploring the marina and the amazing skyscapers which front the waterfront!

There are pictures of the Leader of Dubai all around Dubai, there's a painting of him in my hotel lobby and I've seen pictures all over places, on posters etc. Thought the fact they plastered his face on a side scraper was really interesting though!

Anyway I ended up finding the Marina Mall. It's one of the smallest mall's in Dubai with only 160 stores - it was nice not getting lost in a shopping centre for once!

It was one of my favourite malls as it felt really spacious, with a good range of shops and I loved how most of the shops had floor-to-ceiling windows - so there was a lovely view out over the marina as you shopped!

They also had a Waitrose there too, just like at Dubai Mall, so I popped in to grab a few things including a 'prickly pear' and some African Avocados!

Dubai Part 1

So I'm finally in Dubai!
The flight was really smooth, after a short flight from Manchester to London Heathrow, I grabbed a coffee and exchanged some of my money and waited for my flight to Dubai. Now the best bit of my flight was by far the fact that the flight was carrying a 'light load' meaning I got four seats to myself! 

Needless to say I did the only logical thing, I kicked off my shoes, pushed the armrests up and lounged out over the four seats with my collection of blankets and pillows! 

I managed to catch a taxi really easily and found my way to the Hotel (after stopping for directions since 'Golden Sands' is a selection of 10 apartment blocks and the driver couldn't find mine). I had to wait for a while in the reception area as my room wasn't ready, but it wasn't a problem since some of the reviews online had already said a wait was probable.

When I did get into my room I was really impressed! I opted for basically the cheapest accommodation I could find in Dubai that wasn't too dodgy and I think I got really lucky!

This is the view as you walk in, the bathroom is on the right, the kitchen is as you walk in leading to the bedroom/lounge area.

After unpacking a little and settling in I wandered up to the rooftop pool, found myself somewhere to sit and soaked up some sun and just generally relaxed! :)

Day 49 Ferry Crossing. Take 2

Everyone in my dorm was checking out this morning so all our alarms went off at the same time – and in case you were wondering it’s a very weird and startling experience being woken up by 6 alarms all chiming and singing different songs at half 8 in the morning! Not one I’m in any rush to repeat. Although the girl across from me falling out of her bed in alarm was pretty funny…

Packing up your life is an art and I think I’m rather capable at now, as by 9 I was up, dressed and packed ready to go! I opted to forgo breakfast as my recollection of the last time I took the Cook Strait ferry had sadly not faded from my memory. The Ferry was, of course, running half an hour late, so me and Natalie went to sit in the sun and make the most of our last couple of minutes on the South Island.

The Ferry was a pleasant surprise. It was incredibly smooth, and I got through the three hours on board without feeling the slightest hint of motion sickness! Me Natalie and a lovely French girl whose names I cant remember for the life me, all walked into Wellington together as we all stayed at the same hostel in Picton and me and the french girl (who I've just had sushi with but still can't remember her name) are staying at the same hostel in wellington and both catching buses to auckland tomorrow!

The perfect spot outside the art gallery to eat sushi, read and soak up some rays!

After claiming my bed – an important ritual necessary for survival in hostels, I went into the centre of Wellington to book my bus up to Auckland and generally finalise the details of how I was going to get my suitcase back (a lot of taxis and running is going to be necessary) and and going to get the airport. After which I bought myself a book, I read the  second one in Hanmer where they had a little library, and so I found myself desperate to read the first one. While having a chat to the bookshop owener I came to the startling realization that once again I’d found myself sucked into a series of books that was likely going to take years to finish as the author, Patrick rothfuss, is apparently as bad a geroge martin for taking his time writing his books – as if I don’t spend enough of my time waiting for the so longed for next installment and trying to keep track of books im waiting to come out…

So after getting some sushi (finally) I settled myself in the sunshine outside the arts museum to read my book J

Wellington Harbour is just beautiful at night!

Day 48 Delayed bus to Picton

I departed the Dusky Lodge bright and early to make it to the bus stop the recommended ten minutes prior to the bus’ scheduled arrival. I’m really not sure why I bother keeping to times and being early in New Zealand, everyone else is just too relaxed to worry about getting places on time, so everything is always late...

My last sunset in kaikoura!

The bus arrived only 20 minutes late, which is fairly good for New Zealand, but the Bus Driver then decided he needed his half an hour break so myself and the others at the bus stop were left to wait for a further 30 minutes. Meaning by the time we got the bus we had been waiting for an hour. In the rain.

The journey wasn’t ‘too’ bad, there were quite a few twisty roads, and someone was sick at the back, (not me this time! Hurray!) but I held it together – which was a blessed relief after yesterday’s fiasco of retching for 2hours on a boat…

I haven’t got a great deal to add honestly, I found my hostel, checked in, met some lovely people, had some free chocolate pudding, booked my hostel in Wellington, went in the hot tub with Natalie, and then collapsed on my bed. I'm all packed and ready to go tomorrow morning when I catch the ferry!

 Such a beautiful stretch of coastline

Day 47 Whale Watching

There were three things I wanted to do in Kaikoura, I only had time for one because of the weather delays but I'm so glad I picked Whale Watching as it was so incredible!

Kaikoura lays claim to having one of the few ocean Canyons in the world which combines the nutrient rich icy southern waters with the warmer northern waters to create an area of ocean which supports and incredibly diverse range of sea life. The most exciting of which, I think, is the largest toothed whale, and fourth largest whale in the world, the Sperm Whale!

 The iconic shot of the whale diving and the kaikoura mountains as a backdrop!

You have a choice between boat, helicopter or plane to locate the whales with the most popular being boat, not only because it’s cheaper, but because it’s the more successful way to find them and the closest you can get to them. On average Whale Watch average at one or two sightings for each 2hr tour- mainly because Sperm Whales can dive for up to an hour and only surface for ten minutes or so before heading down to incredible depths of 3000metres. But I got 4 whale sightings! 4!

 The first glimmer of a whale surfacing is when they blow out some steam! It's really hard to spot out at sea but you can see in this picture a plume of steam!

Our first whale of the day!

There’s usually two boats on the water as well as a helicopter and they all communicate to let the others know if they’ve seen anything or in our case, heard anything (there’s a microphone the crew bring out and place underwater to locate how deep the whales are).

 This was another boat which helped us find this one, you can just see, hopefully, that the whale's body is about the size of the boat - excluding his tail!

 It was very cool to get to see whales in the wild, especially as we got to see so many, we saw one whale twice, we tracked down another, and then just as we were heading back to land one appeared right next to us giving us a quick glimpse of his tail as an added surprise! There was a strange thrill in trying to find these rather elusive mammals as you really only have a few minutes to fly across the waves to spot the whale before it dives and you've lost it for another hour! 

 This was usually our last glimpse as they dived!

I should probably mention I was in a dark place for most of the two hours. I was hunched at the back of the boat with 8 others, grasping our sick bags for dear life. It wasn’t so much the sea as such (I really am getting better at boats….) It was the fact we’d zoom off to a sighting, stop, set off again, stop.. and the stopping was bad. Really bad. The boat was being battered whenever we stopped moving…

Finding some beautiful flowers certainly made me feel slightly better!

Some shags I stumbled across while tried to calm my stomach!

Seeing the whales made up for how awful I felt on the trip, only just though. As the rest of the day was spent on a quiet corner of the beach bemoaning my terrible ability to handle motion sickness, and avoiding anything which sold food as the smell made me feel awful. So I spent around 8hours feeling like a dying zombie, but it was worth it!

Possibly my favourite photo from the beach :)

Tomorrow I’m off to Picton for the night and then I start my journey to reclaim my suitcase (which is turning into a fiasco as everyone has gone home for Christmas and suitcase is being held hostage by Bernard) and catch my flight… And yes mum, catching my flight and getting home ‘in one piece’ is my priority!

Day 46 Kaikoura

Today was a beautiful day in Kaikoura, the sun was shining, the sky was blue, but it was also windy. Really, really windy. Which means most of the activities were put on hold as the sea was just too rough. I’d booked to go on a wale watching tour off the coast of Kaikoura Pensinsula at 10:30 but when I got there it’d been cancelled, I then booked to go on the 12:00 but come half 11 that one had been cancelled too, so I tried the 4:00 but that was eventually cancelled too – in short all the trips for today were eventually cancelled but they don’t cancel anything until 15 minute prior to boarding as the weather changes so quickly here there’s no other way to be sure. I’ve booked to go on another one tomorrow but it’d messed up my plan for my time in Kaikoura so I’m not going to be able to fit everything in. (if I'm being positive that just means I have another excuse to come back though!)

New Zealand is known for it’s rapid weather changes, as is obvious by the huge variations in wildlife, and I’ve gotten used to the weather changing from glorious sunshine, to rain, then back to scorching tempratures but Kaikoura takes the biscuit! I’ve had just about every type of weather, bar snow, in the space of 8hours!

Such a crazy colour right?!

Because my tour was cancelled I got the chance to do a view of the walks around Kaikoura and generally soak up the ‘vibe’ of the place and explore the beach. I need to mention the colour of the water here, I’ve seen this crazy turquoise colour in a few lakes and rivers around New Zealand but I’ve not seen such a beautiful, and surreal colour in the oceans before! It's so beautiful, and with the mountains as a backdrop it's just exquisite!

 I loved sitting in this spot, the road was empty and the view just stunning!

 Kaikoura's main road! Just look at those mountains!

My picnic spot and the crowd that joined me!
So basically all I did today was do a few walks, wait for the seas to calm down and have a picnic on the beach - all in all I can't complain even if my trip has been postponed!

 

At the moment I’m just crossing my fingers the wale tour operates tomorrow because if not I don’t think I’m going to have time to do any of the activities I wanted to!