Travel Diaries : Swimming with Dolphins, Petting Alpacas, Eat Street, Rotorua

I still can't get over how amazing the Dolphin Seafaris experience was. I honestly have never been so excited than when I was on the boat, surrounded by pods of dolphins! Dolphins everywhere! Their sounds can be heard if we listened carefully. These are wild dolphins in their habitat, not in some aquarium or zoo... we are in the open sea, baby!

Good morning! Got up at like 5am and drove to Tauranga. Super sleepy..

Beautiful weather but was a bit cold in the morning! Can't imagine how cold it must've been in the sea. We're gonna swim with dolphins!!!

Discovering a dolphin pod and our awesome tour guide is making a beeline for it. Everyone getting their wetsuits ready!

I am not a fan of wetsuits. So uncomfortable lol I couldn't breathe! But it fit well, I'd think. Just super tight.... I only fit the one for 10 yr olds. Lol

Ever been so close to a dolphin? My first time! They're so sociable and friendly! I just wanted to hug one! <3 You can see more of them on the videos I took, which is at the end of the post.

So we made a stop near the pods and went down to the sea. Freezing cold and couldn't feel my feet! Hung on to some bars they put out and wore snorkeling gear to look down in the water to see the dolphins. Our batch were so lucky to have 2 dolphins swimming just next to us (LITERALLY) for like 5 minutes! Unfortunately we didn't capture them up close on camera because it was a challenging task to be able to breathe/hold on to the camera/not swallow salt water/hang on to the bar. I swallowed so much seawater. Yuck. Worth it!!

 We did it! One thing on our bucket list, checked!

What an amazing experience. I would love to do it again if I could. It was $140/adult, but it is really worth the money. the facilities were proper, and you are well taken care of. And for a person who hasn't swum in the sea before, I never felt unsafe or anything. It was fantastic. Stay tuned for the Youtube videos at the end!

Next stop, Agrodome!!

Me buying tickets. It was $33 for each of us (student price) for a farm tour. Weren't really interested in the animal show. Not a fan of animal shows anyway.

This was our tour bus/vehicle!

Went back to change. Fresh from seawater!!

Everything and everywhere was beautiful. Enjoy the pictures. Spammed by camera until my battery died. Well worth it though.

Did you know this cow = your expensive Angus meat/burgers? Hehe you learn something new everyday. Also, black and white cows are milking cows.

Holding on to my hat cos it was so windy!

<3

Reindeers??!

Sorry, I don't have any food on me, buddy.

So many sheep! They're so cute but they pooped everywhere so I didn't really leave the vehicle.

Kiwis, feijoas , olive trees.

Had a taste of Kiwi juice and Kiwi wine. Yum!

Mom's favourite drink.

This uncle likes antlers.

X RATED IMAGE OF MISBEHAVING ALPACAS

So cute!!! I've never been so close to one.

Making the Alpaca pose for his picture.

I don't think this one likes people but he let me pet him. Lol

This picture... just so epic.

Turkeys. Some China uncle was like "NI HEN HAO CHI!"

"NI YE SHI HEN HAO CHI. HA HA HA"

<3

Omg Pony!! <3 and Donkey! Lol

The trip to Agrodome was a relaxed, fun one. Just what we needed after our tiring dolphin tour!

Eat Street, Rotorua. One of the places to visit when you're here! Lots of restaurants and cafes and bars! http://www.rotoruanz.com/eatstreat/

We also checked out the Rotorua Night Market and we were quite amazed at the variety of food there! http://www.rotoruanz.com/nightmarket/

 Lake Rotorua at dusk/night. :)

Enjoy the videos! I put them at the end just because it was easier to embed.They're not like top notch stuff or super pro edited ones, but the best I can do. These are on my YouTube channel with some other noob videos of me, so if you are into that kinda thing, subscribe maybe?

That's all for this post! Stay tuned for the next one!

xxx,

Ashley M