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I passed 200 days on my travel! Hurray. đ
The ferry-ride was a 3 hour trip and when we came to the South Island we went through a fjord before arriving in Picton. Beautiful!
Everybody had told us that the south island is more beautiful but when driving out of Picton we just couldn’t see it… It was brown hills/mountains and not very green at all. Oh well.
We stopped in Brenheim to ask in the information-center what to see on the way to Kaikoura.
Well there was these Lagoons the lady told us, that was nice to see on a day like this (sunny and warm). Okidoki, we decided to drive out there and take a walk and so we did.
We got sunscreen and hats on, water bottles in our bags and off we went. We walked over some swamp-grounds on a little bridge and then we came out to the area where the lagoons where supposed to be. It was all flat, brown grass and not very exciting to be honest…We decided that we could use those hours a better way so we went back and made some lunch.
We sat on our chairs in the sun eating an exciting lunch (beans in a can, bread and cauliflower). :p
We drove towards Kaikoura on the beach-road and enjoyed the ride when A-M saw some rocks she wanted pictures of. I took the two cameras and went out of the car to take the pictures of them. When I got closer I saw some movement down at the beach. There was two seals playing….no wait…LOTS of seals playing, sleeping, jumping around. I couldn’t believe my eyes and turned to A-M waiving my arms, pointing towards the beach. Well there was someone in our car waving. A-M also discovered them at the same time. :p
This was incredible.We went down to the beach and A-M posed as close as she could, and got to close it seems. The seal roared at her and she got quite scared. :p
We took some photos and then I walked further down the beach looking at some other seals down at the rocks. I stopped and then I heard a big roar behind me…I turned around and there was this REALLY big seal, not looking happy. Ehhh, what to do? I jumped up to a steep cliff hoping that he couldn’t follow me there. He started to jump towards where I stood and I got really frightened….I saw the teeth on them and didn’t want to feel them in my legs.
He jumped pass the cliff and I was quick to jump off it and ran back towards the car.
I really thought that was IT…eaten by a seal in NZ. That would have been a great story to tell…for A-M. :p
When we had enough pictures of these fur seals, we drove to Kaikoura. It was a great little town and we drove to check out where to spend the night. We found a lady, serving food on the side of the road so we decided to stop and have our dinner there. We had Seafood chowder, grilled mussels and grilled fish. It was very good and we had a nice chat with the lady as well.
She has been competing for NZ in the triathlon. Not bad. đ
When driving back in to town, not finding anywhere suiting place to stay at, we stopped at the YHA Hostel. We thought we might be able to do our laundry there and I went in to ask. The guy that was working there, Ian, said he couldn’t let us. When I asked about if there was any other place that we could do laundry, he said, yes, in December. :p
After chatting for a little while, he said ”go on, do your laundry here”. What a nice guy.
We put in our laundry and went back to the car to read while waiting for the machines to be ready, and he came out and asked if we wanted some the’. Sure, we said. đ
We went in and got tea and had a nice evening, chatting with Ian. He gave us a lot of great tips about Kaikoura and also other things and places in NZ to see. When the laundry was done we said thank you and he told us that we could use the showers there as well. We decided to come back the morning after. Perfect!
We slept at South Bay an area in Kaikoura, just at the road.
On Saturday morning at 7 we woke up and when I went outside the car I saw the beauty of the Southern Island. In front of me was these big snow-covered mountains. Amazing to see.
We went to get the shower and got some tea with Ian as well. I sat and just enjoyed these mountains in the sun.
Ian and his wife are both English, but met in Sydney when they where working for YHA. They got married in UK, then in Sydney again, and about 2 years ago they moved to NZ. I can imagine why they moved. đ
We went to a lookout-point Ian tipped us about and there we had our breakfast and sat in the sun watching the mountains. This is actually where the frontcover-photo of The Lonely Planet is taken. Again, I can imagine why they did that.
After some food-shopping we went out to the Kaikoura seal-colony and had lunch watching a seal sleep. Lots of action. Not really, but very exotic. :p
We walked out on the cliffs for a while and later in the afternoon we stopped by at YHA to use their phone (using pre-paid phonecards).I called my mom for 20 minutes, which was great. đ
We had a chat with Ian, his wife Sue and their dog, Pepper and then we went to a good spot at a little peninsula. We saw a movie and then it was time to sleep.
Sunday-morning we woke up and had the same terrific scenery with the mountains. A-M suddenly called me over to the beach and asked me to bring my camera. There was this little seal that just had had his/her morning bath. He/she as soo cute.
Not a bad thing to wake up to. đ
We had a nice sunny morning there and when the clouds got closer we went to Mt Fyffe (mountain) to take a walk up to a lookout-point. We started to walk the steep way up and I felt that I wouldn’t be able to go all the way up. I still have a cold and I felt it when breathing. A-M went up and I took my time walking a bit further and further. I passed the 500 m mark and after seeing the snowy mountains I decided it was enough. I started walking down, which was almost as hard as going up…A-M passed me on the way down. đ
We stooped at Fyffes Horse trekking to find out the prices for A-M. We talked to Linda who lives at the farm and we found out there where doping sheep sheering the next morning. We asked if we could come and watched and she said sure. đ
She also introduced us to her husband, Simon, and then she told us we could park at their house during the night. Perfect for us. đ
We went to town for a bit, Internet-cafe and then went back to Fyffes. The whole family (they have two daughters, Mandy and Rebecca) went to have Sunday-dinner and left us with their house open so we could use the facilities (I wonder if that would happen i Sweden :p). We made dinner, then watched a movie and got some sleep.
On Monday-morning we went up at 7.30, had some quick breakfast and then went down to see the sheep-sheering.
There was one Sheerer, his wife, grandson and a helper. There was 35 sheep to be sheered and we helped out taking out the lambs and letting them slide down where the sheep would join them after being nude again. đ
It was amazing to see how the cut the wool and it stays all together in one piece.
There was also some things I didn’t want to see, like the things that gets stuck to their behind and also some cuts on the sheep from the machine that cuts them, but it’s all a part of the thing I guess. đ
We thanked Simon and Linda for the hospitality and then drove off to say goodbye to Ian, our big helper in this town.
He thought we already left town and was quite surprised to see us and invited us for tea. đ
We sat there watching the mountains and had a nice chat. I went in the kitchen and there was an old couple. I started talking to them and all of a sudden they invited us to park at their house in Christchurch when we come there. Jim and Esme’ are about 75+ and very funny people. We had a good laugh and said that we would contact them when coming to Chch.
We said goodbye to Ian and Kaikoura (I really loved that town…) and drove off towards Hanmer Springs.It was a beautiful drive with lots of mountains surrounding us.
We arrived at 7 and then went to the Spa to have a bath in the thermal pools. It was outdoors and there was several pools to choose from.
They closed at 9 and then we drove to find a place to stay.
After a nice calm Tuesday in Hanmer, not doing much, and a good night sleep, we took off to Chch on Thursday morning.
We had to change cars, because the fridge in Sputnik was smelling like a dead fish and hadn’t been cleaned before we got the car.
We went to the Spaceship office and there was our new companion, Atom. Maybe not a fun name, but that is the car we have now. đ
More to come in the next diary.
Hugs to you all!
Hej igen. đ
Ha de gott!
Kram
Thobbe