And back to Dunedin

Sunday 8th March
Sunday was our last day in Akaroa and we were due to fly back to Dunedin in the evening. We had a lovely breakfast at the “Sweet As” French bakery whose eggs benedict were described on the menu as “eggs Cumberbatch Benedict!” After a stroll around the town we went to the harbour for a two hour dolphin spotting cruise. We saw big stingrays swimming majestically under the jetty. On our cruise we were rewarded almost immediately with lots of dolphins leaping around and alongside the boat. This was in no way thanks to Albie the dolphin detecting dog. Albie’s role was to listen for the sonic sounds of dolphins and alert the boat’s crew. In fact he spent most of the cruise either curled up fast asleep or begging the passengers for cookies. He was however very sweet - a sort of spaniel with lovely floppy ears. At one point we did see him watching the dolphins at the front of the boat so he was definitely aware of them. We saw lots of seabirds such as cormorants too, and some young fur seals besporting themselves in a naturally formed rock pool at the foot of one of the cliffs; they appeared to be having a great deal of fun! There were big caves in the cliffs which had been formed by bubbles bursting in the lava flow millions of years ago. The whole trip was great fun and complemented our more up close and personal kayak trip yesterday.
Back on dry land we decided to visit the Matuatua Winery on our way to Christchurch and the two Jameses purchased another couple of bottles of wine. We flew with Jamie from Christchurch back to Dunedin for our last evening in New Zealand. We will be very sad to leave this beautiful country.