Our third and final week on South Island started on Mon 6th Oct (day 15) back where we began - in Christchurch. We went to pick Rachel's friend Linda from Canada up from the airport first thing and then hit the road heading straight to Kaikoura. (We did give poor Linda time for a shower - we're not completely heartless!) James and I picked up our little hire car (a Mazda Demio for those in the know, and if you don't know, don't bother to find out..) and struggled to keep pace with Rach and Sim in their more powerful wagon!
Kaikoura is famous for it's marine life as it's very close to a deep ocean trench so lots of whales, dolphins and seals, not to mention birdlife, to be seen. Our first stop in Kaikoura was the car park on the peninsula where we saw loads of seals right away - it wasn't hard, they were all asleep in the car park and on the beach! Impressive creatures but boy are they smelly. The boys relived their childhoods rockpooling and tormenting crabs.
Day 16 was meant to be an up close and personal encounter with dolphins. James, Rachel, Linda and myself were booked onto a dolphin swim tour. We got all kitted out with wetsuits (including booties, gloves and hoods - the water's bloody freezing you know!) snorkels and flippers and all eagerly looked out on the boat ride for any pods of dolphins. We did see a couple but the sea conditions were too rough for us to get into the water safely and the dolphins got bored and swam away! Very disappointing but we saw some at least and got to see 3 different types of albatross which was fantastic (and we got our money back!) Following that disappointment we drove to Nelson and stayed at a very swanky backpackers (seriously- I've stayed in worse hotels!). Linda got introduced to our Uno and Yahtzee league but failed to make an impression on the league table.
Day 17 started with a stroll around Richmond which is a lovely chilled town. We then drove out west towards the Abel Tasman National Park where we chose the only wet 10 minutes of the afternoon to pitch our tents. That afternoon we took a drive out to Pupu Springs which are clear freshwater (I think?!) springs where you can actually see the water coming up out of the earth into very deep pools. I think they might be more impressive if the surface of the water isn't being distrubed by wind and rain. We were camping in the grounds of The Barn backpackers which was full of extremely quiet guests so we didn't feel it was appropriate to start rattling yahtzee dice all over the place!
Day 18 was spent on the water in sea kayaks in and around the waters of the Abel Tasman National Park. We went out in a group with a guide and although the water looked incredibly inviting it was freezing. We all looked pretty special in our spray jacket and skirts - see photos! The sea in that area is reowned for being calm and safe and it was a wonderful paddle around to Watering Cove. The only dodgy moment involved Linda and her paddling partner Richard who managed to get themselves stranded on rocks and we all held our breath waiting for them to capsize but were disappointed as they sorted it no worries! We had a huge feed on the beach (world's tastiest sandwiches and muffins) before walking around to Bark Bay. We got taken back to Marahau by a water taxi which was an exhilerating ride.
Day 19 took us up to Picton which is where we'll catch the ferry to North Island. The drive there took us through the Marlborough Sounds and Havelock - the mussel capital of the world, apparently. We stayed that night at a cool backpackers called the Villa and Brace and I chilled out reading on hammocks before stuffing ourselves silly on the Villa's free apple crumble and ice cream - soooooooo good. Definitely a nice place to stay.
Day 20 (Sat 11th Oct) took us across the Cook Strait away from South Island and over to North Island, from which point we would travel seperately from Sim, Rach and Linda. The weather was simply beautiful and we sunned ourselves on the deck for much of the crossing. When we arrived in Wellington on North Island we made our way slightly out of town to a campsite where we met some lovely people from Norfolk and imparted much advice about what to see on South Island as we consider ourselves somewhat of an authority on it now!
Day 21 was spent in Wellington, which I was surprised to learn is the capital of New Zealand- not Auckland as I had previously thought......... We took a look around Te Papa, the national museum, which, like all national museums, was amazing but gave us brain strain very quickly. Just too much to take in! Wellington has a nice waterfront and as it was Sunday lots of people were out enjoying the sunshine. We took the cable car up to the Botanic Gardens at the top of town and had a nice stroll through admiring the spring flowers (and then yumming down an ice cream). We drove out of town in the late afternoon and camped at Paekakariki where there's a lovely deserted beach to walk on. Camping is much warmer on N Island than it was on S Island!
