World Buskers Festival – A Busker’s Diary: Day 6

Buskers Diary, Wednesday 27 January 2010
Michele A’Court

Today it is time to experience a different kind of Canterbury wildlife – the Hector’s dolphins in Lyttelton Harbour with Black Cat Cruises. The day starts overcast when we’re picked up from Cathedral Square but you can spy patches of blue sky as we head toward the hills, and the Lyttelton tunnel spits us into a proper summer’s day on the other side.

We are warned there are no guarantees that we will see these tiny dolphins – described delightful by Skipper Stewart as “about the size of a seven-year-old child” – but we’re also reassured that will have a fine time looking for them. Ten minutes into our two hour cruise we meet our first one. It’s an amazing sight – they’re outrageously cute and frisky, and somehow you feel incredibly lucky that they’ve popped by to say hello.

Throughout the cruise, we keep meeting them – mothers and calves, mating pairs – busily eating or playing (their two primary activities, somewhat like buskers) and occasionally taking a moment to have a good look at us. Christie, on our-board dolphin expert (“She knows more about dolphins than the dolphins do,” Stewart says) explains that when they pop their heads straight up out of the water – or “spy-hop” – they’re observing us in much the same way as we are observing them, with curiosity and also, I like to imagine, with some level of affection.

Black Cat Cruises makes a point of not interfering in their lives – they don’t feed them and if they look too busy with their own stuff, we quietly slip away to look for other families.

It’s a glorious cruise – peaceful and picturesque – and there’s a special bonus waiting for us as we return to Lyttelton’s port when we spot a Little Blue Penguin floating casually by. He (I’ve decided his name is Bruce) seems quite pleased to see us in his own laconic way, completely unbothered by a catamaran filled with tourists waving at him and taking his picture.

We are delivered back to the city in plenty of time to get ready for work. It’s a balmy evening in Sumner and we are sold out not long after the box office opens. Each of us has a great gig, especially Chris Brain, our headline act who won the Billy T. Comedy Award for 2009 who totally rocks the house tonight.

So afterwards we head into town to celebrate at Le Plonk, the sophisticated but relaxed wine bar on Manchester St. Travis the barman finds me the perfect shiraz and Chris tells me his dry martini is exceptional. This is high praise, given that Chris knows as much about martinis as Christie knows about dolphins. We meet a Jason, a local lawyer and accountant who has just been to watch Flame Oz in Victoria Square.

I am excited for a while when, in response to questions from Irene Pink, he advises us that buying wine is a sound investment, but then he also explains that it works only if you don’t drink it. I decide to stick with Kiwi Saver and we open another bottle.