By Lydia Uddstrom
Thursday: I was up bright & early & off to search for Moko. First to the river searching from the info centre to the river mouth, no signs!...Ok over the hill to Ohope...nop nothing there either...ugh over the hill to Otarawairere...got to the top, no sign so back to car I went to wait.
I headed back to the river mouth to his most common hang out. Was about to head away & meet a friend when I noticed people looking into the river & then there it was that beautiful fin I had so wanted to see all morning! He was asleep by the bouy so I sat & watched for a while until he woke & went after a boat. He popped up again a bit further down by a bouy, but just close enough for me to slip into the water & see if he would come & say hello. Sure enough as soon as I was is he came over. I followed him over to the bouy & held onto to it in the strong current. He would leave to follow the boats but always come back. A couple of others joined us & we had a wonderful time with him. After a while he put his head on my arm & gave a gentle push, he did the same to others. I took it as a sign he would rather we let go of the bouy. We headed back to shore & he joined us. Next thing we knew he disappeared & headed down stream toward the Evelyn J - a local dredging boat that he seems to have formed a real attachment to. My friend grabbed my back & set off down river, mush easier to swim with the current than against it.!
When I go to the boat there was another girl there from Australia called Isabelle, she had come to visit Moko. She was an amazing diver & raced around with Moko. he became very excited & raced around with her, it was beautiful to watch. I was told to try 'moko rolling', this is when you lie on the sruface and roll like a log in circles, sure enough he is fascinated by it. He would float just below me & watch. The water was beautifully clear & I loved having nice deep water to dive with Moko in. It was wonderful to see him moving freely in his environment & makes you get a real sense of his power & majesty. I always feel awkward & ungainly in the water next to him. I wonder what he sees in us as playmates. He has grown so much since I first met him Feb 09 & he has so many more scars. It saddens to think how many of them are due to humans. After a few hours in the water just loving being back in his company the dredging boat had gone out to sea to work & sure enough Moko left to follow it.