Lake Tekapo - Galaxy Boutique Hotel view

Sunset

Sunrise

Some stars

Great location. Sky light to observe the stars. We saw some shooting stars before falling asleep.

Breakfast delivered to the room so we could enjoy the view! (Food not great though, kinda like IHOP.)

New Zealand - Day 8

It's so sad that there's so few days left of this wonderful trip. 

Akaroa has so many great things to do, I had not prebooked any of them. Ultimately, I booked a nature cruise with Akaroa Dolphins - 2 hour boat trip on the bay with sightings of Hector dolphins, seals, penguins and seabirds advertised. In fact, they actually guaranteed dolphins sightings and promised a free cruise if no dolphins are seen. That's a bold guarantee!! Well, they were right. We must have seen at least 20 dolphins with many swimming alongside and underneath our boat. We saw a bunch of fur seals, albatross, gannets and 3 blue penguins!! Amazing trip!

Then it was a long drive to Lake Tekapo. It was raining most of the way with poor visibility which was disappointing. 

But as we crested onto the lake area, everything cleared up and was beautiful!

We're staying at the Galaxy Boutique Hotel and this is the view from our room. 

We decided to get take out and eat with our beautiful room view. 

Another beautiful day!

(We did our laundry this morning - an essential part of a 2 week trip.)

New Zealand - day 7

Swimming with the dolphins - amazing!! I had to pick between the dusky dolphins of Kaikoura versus the Hector dolphins of Akaroa. I ended up picking dusky dolphins in Kaikoura because they are more interactive. Everything they advertised was true! You truly get to swim with the wild dolphins and they play with you and do acrobatics! We must have seen over 100. But as a special treat, we saw orcas as we set off to find the dolphins! I took so many pictures and videos! Only a couple to share for now.

orcas

The scenery was also beautiful. I wanted to stay there forever.

Next week we had lunch by the beach. The famous Kaikoura crayfish (lobster) and green mussels. 

Saw another seal by the beach.

My favorite ice cream bar

Raspberry Coke!! So good!

Then the drive to Akaroa. Long but beautiful towards the end.

Dinner at Ma Maison - fantastic!!

New Zealand - day 6

We got up earlier today and had a lovely coffee in our Habitat King room at the Naumi Hotel Wellington. We headed out to the ferry terminal and boarded Kaitaki Interislander ferry to cross to Picton. I had booked seats in the Queen Charlotte lounge which was a great decision - NZ$32pp with NZ$15 credit for food and drink for guaranteed seating in adult only area with nice leather seats - worth it!! It was easy to go to the observation decks and take pictures of the beautiful views. Amazingly enough, we saw a pod of dolphins as we were exiting Wellington Bay. I got a blurry picture. There must have been at least 20!

We couldn't have asked for a better day for taking the ferry. 

They did a good job loading and unloading. We got off the ferry at 12:33, due in at 12:15. Therefore, we made it early to our reservation at Wither Hills for lunch and wine tasting. This place was great - Delicious food with super fresh ingredients and excellent sauces. We also had a great selection of wines - Daniel Le Brun vintage sparkling wine, Wiffen Sauvignon Blanc, Honorable Pinot noir, and Benmorven Pinot noir. The Honorable Pinot was maybe my favorite Pinot ever - great nose, delectable flavor, excellent finish. Really highly recommend this place.

We drove to Kaikoura but stopped on the way at the seal colony. So many seals!!

We are staying at Nikau Lodge. 

view from window.