3rd Year Wedding Anniversary

From Beachlands, a ferry runs into Auckland city, and a friend had told us about a really good pizza place in town. So for our wedding anniversary, we hopped on the ferry, and headed to 'Sals Pizza' in the city. Out here in New Zealand, there are Dominoes and Pizza Huts everywhere you turn. But don't be fooled, it aint like Britain. The first clue that things are amiss, is the price, $5 for a large pizza!!!!!! You think, “that can't be right can it?”, and no it can't. You get exactly what you pay for, a rubbery mess of toppings and cheese on a big sheet of cardboard. So by May, we were carving a good pizza, and 'Sals' was New York style, bound to be good. And it didn't disappoint.....

Just a small pepperoni pizza for two :-) plus some garlic twists, sheer gluttony! But it tasted awesome.

To celebrate our anniversary we also took a trip to Paihia. I booked us up for an Eco Cruise, a small boat taking a maximum of 30 people out to view the dolphins. And if the chance arises, you also get the chance to swim with them. So prepared with snorkels and wet suits we went out on the boat. The weather was pretty windy, causing some serious waves outside of the sheltered bay. Conditions were not looking good, and we couldn't find any dolphins, but then we spotted them. They are very fast, the boat was struggling to keep up. They were swimming alongside and under the boat, so beautiful.

I was pleading for them to slow down, and they finally did, settling to play in a sheltered bay, and they let 18 of us enter the water!!!!!! :-) :-)

I couldn't believe it, I was in the water with wild dolphins!! They were swimming underneath me, and along beside me. One even turned to look at me before flicking its tail and shooting off. You could here them under the water!!!! It was incredible, I couldn't stop crying, my snorkel mask was filling up. We were told that the more interesting you are, the more likely they are to come and play with you. So I was singing and humming under the water, diving down and then twisting round back up to the surface. And it worked, they came so close to me that I could of reached out and touched them, but you can't, there immune system can't handle human bacteria, so you need to be so careful not to touch them. I could make out every detail on them, look into their eyes, it was the most amazing thing I've ever experienced. We managed to get on and off the boat three times, playing with them for well over an hour before they decided they had had enough and swam off. Since I was a little girl I have dreamt of swimming with dolphins, and now I have managed it, with WILD dolphins!!!!!! :-) :-) :-) Completely unbelievable, best wedding anniversary present I could have ever asked for.