Better Be Home Soon (Kaikōura to Christchurch and home, New Zealand to Australia)

In leaving Nelson, we left our noisy nocturnal neighbour and moved into a much quieter digs. The Sudima is quite a new hotel and it looks new and fresh with glass taking advantage of every view from the snow capped mountains, through to the dolphin encrusted water. That's how it appears, everytime I look across the water, a pod of dolphins breaks the surface of the powder blue water and etches themselves across the horizon. Magic.

The mountains and the sea.

The rooms are spacious and quiet. There have been no disturbances from the corridor or the room nextdoor. No loud conversations, music, laughter, nothing, just the muffled sounds of lives being lived. After the grey of Greymouth and the noise of Nelson, I was just about done, but the Sudima and the beautiful Kaikōura weather have recharged my batteries.

Trust me, there are dolphins out there.

Except for one little surprise. Around 7 or 7:30am, I became aware of what sounded like a siren. Much the like the evacuate alarm we get at home, which starts faintly and gets louder. The siren, an old school one, like an air raid warning or shark alarm, just stayed as quiet background noise. I looked out the window, none of the locals appeared concerned, the ground was still, there was no tsunami. It was still audible, but there had been no announcement over the hotel p.a. so I assumed all was ok. 

A pity the beach is not white sand.

This turned out to be partially correct. All was OK for us. The siren was the local firies and they use it to let people know there has been a fire or car accident, an incident to which they are responding. In days gone bye before pagers and mobile phones, I imagine the siren summoned those on call to the station.

Kaikōura is all about getting outside. Well, it is New Zealand. There are multiple tramping options, fishing, dolphin, seal and whale chasing (on water or in the air), kayaking and sitting in the sun drinking beer. Ok, maybe I made the last one up. I still recommend it after you done something active.

We decided to explore the seal colonies to the south of the township, but first, breakfast at the Encounter Café. They serve pies. Weird pies. They all come with cheese. Jayne does not recommend them. The coffee was good.

The view back to town from the Point Kean headland.

The seal colony was a little too far to walk so we drove and scored the last car space in the car park. The walk commences at Point Kean and continues up the walkway to the lookout and track beyond or, unbeknown to me at the time, onto the rock platform and around the headland. Easy path or no-so-easy path. Clearly I chose the latter.

The path to the lookout is paved and provides excellent views back to Kaikōura with the backdrop of the mountains and then out to sea and across the rock platform and beaches and coves below - where the seals hang out. Once the lookout is reached (after 5 minutes) the path is mown grass and worn track. It can get a little muddy but is solid underfoot.

The water looks inviting.

As the path winds along the cliff top edge, there are numerous vantage points to stop and enjoy the view or take photos. Unless you're a backpacker (choose the country) and believe safety rules and warnings don't apply to you. In which case, you make several attempts to descend from the cliff top, but not by using any discernible path. Sadly, you survive this Darwinian test despite deserving to fall to your death with your three friends.

Seals everywhere.

We continue to walk along the cliff top, following the path, because we are not from Germany. The seal colony is visible below and there is ample opportunity to watch the seals sunbaking on the rocks, as well as their gymnastics in the water. There is also a well worn track along the foreshore that is heavily populated by walkers who chose the easier option. It is alo the path that gets you closer to the seals.

The kiddies pool.

Jayne spots a local tramper and asks if there are steps down to sea level via a regular path, one that doesn't challenge Darwin's Theory. He points far off into the distance to a clump of pine trees. Steps, there are steps there near the sanctuary. By sanctuary, he is referring to a section of land that is clearly fenced off from the surrounding area. It is double thick with a rolled-metal top to stop climbing animals and I assume the wire extends underground to stop digging predators. It turns out to be a mutton bird sanctuary and they fence it to keep out cats, possum, rats and stoats. Mutton bird eggs and newly hatched young would be easy prey for these introduced species.

The kiddies pool from sea level.

Having reached the sanctuary, it is time to bid Jayne farewell. She will not be joining me on the walk down the steps to the shoreline. The walk down was easier than expected; the steps are well maintained and have a handrail most of the way. At the bottom, the track ends abruptly with a sign warning there is no track maintenance beyond this point. There stands a young American couple, complete with backpack and compass, standing in the thigh length grass. "Excuse me. We're trying to get back to the car park. Have you walked this trail before?" No, sorry, I replied. Each of the track braids leads to the shore, so it's a matter of pick one and do as little damage as possible. And off I walked.

It's a hard life.

The braid I selected soon deposited me at the waterline and I started picking my way back towards the rock platform and car park. There were more people walking towards me than were heading in my direction. I looked up to the cliff top a few times but was never sure if I could see Jayne.

Just posing for a selfie.

There were seals everywhere. Well, what did you expect, it is a seal colony. There were numerous signs warning tourists not to disturb the seals, but some seals already looked disturbed. Some areas of the coastline were actually fenced off with rope. Anyway, I scored some good photos and I was glad we commenced the walk along the cliff top and then came down to sea level.

Please don't disturb me, I'm solving problems.

After some hide-and-seek with Jayne who had made her own way back to the car park, we drove back to the hotel for a well earned beer in the sun (see, I told you it was a thing here). It was glorious afternoon and we sat and watched the dolphins in the distance before dropping our gear back to our room and walking the couple of kilometres into the actual Kaikōura township. It has the usual collection of tourist/gift stores, pubs, bars, restaurants and a very aggressive ice cream store that only accepts cash or NZ issued cards - bugger off you international travellers! I so wanted an ice cream but there was no chance I was caving in to this level of aggression. No ice cream for me and no profit for them. Prucks.

Dinner was at the hotel again, where I challenged the wine list for the second night, again selecting 'out of stock' wines. It's a talent.

Another restful night and no morning siren before we packed our bags for the last hotel departure of our South Island road trip. After check out, today's breakfast option was the Kaikōura Bakery to sample their pies. Once again a success venture. They do a good pie in New Zealand. Then it was on the road to Christchurch airport, surviving no less than 4 contra flows on the way.

Another good pie.

The airport experience was pretty much as you might expect, except they don't open the international customs until 2 hours before flight time, which meant hanging around in the terminal and not the Lounge on the other side. The Lounge was fine, but it's no First Class Lounge and the wines were typically sweet to cater to local tastes.

The only thing to report was ou Qantas plane departure was an hour late and, in absolute affront, the Jetstar flight left on time. The only consolation was that it was landing in Melbourne, not Sydney.

And that's about it from the land of the long white cloud. We will be back to Christchurch, Dunedin and Kaikōura sometime in the future as well as Invercargill or Stewart Island to chase the southern lights.

And so, dear reader, I leave you with Crowded House from their 1988 album Temple of Low Men, the classic Better Be Home Soon. Let's hope we all get there safely.

Until mid-year and the West Australia Coral Coast followed by the Broome to Darwin expedition.

Conflicting Emotions (Nelson to Kaikōura via Blenheim, New Zealand)

Our nocturnal neighbour was a little quieter last night. Perhaps the pickings are slimmer on a Sunday. She was home at 3:15am. Alone. Ah, snuggle down, it's time for sleep, dear reader. Until the sun fingered its way through the clouds and our curtains.

It's a transit day and getting ever closer to the flight home. The impact of this is to re-focus on the packing of the bags so we get it right in Kaikōura prior to the airport dash. There shouldn't really be any concerns although I have acquired a pair of walking boots, and umbrella and several shirts since leaving Sydney. And Jayne, you ask? She has shed a pair of hiking sandals and picked up pandora charm and a net cardigan. The latter was a bargain for $25NZ. The last attempted purchase of such a garment was in Europe and they were asking €40. An absolute bargain - so glad we waited.

The morning cloud thickened, threatened and then dumped the rain we were expecting. Thanks for that 'sun city', Nelson, the home of sunshine in New Zealand. Not today. The rain accompanied us on the journey for some time.

The tide was out as we drove toward Blenheim. Something we had not yet witnessed. The Maitai River is reduced to a stream and its banks are not particularly attractive. At least that explained why there was little in the way of tourist/hospitality development on the river. The same could be said for the bay. It is wide and shallow and resplendent when under a blue sky. Not so pretty when the tide is out and the rain is falling.

Nelson to Blenheim is a classic Kiwi drive. It commences in the bay area and heads for the mountains, covering a range of climatic as well as road conditions. We experienced the steep mountain climbs, the hair pin bends, road works, contra flows, rain, drizzle, sunshine, cloud. All within about 90 minutes.

Flowers! The gardens of Blenheim.

Blenheim was out to impress. A cloudless blue sky, a welcome sight after the drive. As you drive into the town there is the most magnificent park and garden. We were stopping for coffee anyway, so I parked near the garden. As I was taking photos I could hear, but not see, someone, um, let's call it singing. Found him. A 'traveller', he had dropped his backpack near the Memorial Tower and stepped inside to harness the superior acoustics of the space. Admittedly I did not recognise any of the songs, but he was providing great amusement to other people, presumably locals, who were enjoying the park and its gardens.

Can you hear the music?

To the CBD Café for coffee and sweet treats. Skip the treats, stay with the coffee. The service is efficient enough, but the customers are slower than a wet week in Greymouth. I just wanted to push some of them in the back to help them get to the counter. Decorum and the possibility of breaking several of their frail, brittle bones encouraged me to behave.

Beautiful. Even without the sound.

Subsequently, a quick search discovered a Kathmandu store in close proximity. Jayne's jandals beckoned siren-like, well the possibility of their purchase called us. To no avail. On the walk back to the car we were once again regaled by the unknown singer who had decamped to another monument and was amusing an entirely new audience. Who said nothing ever happens in Blenheim?

Back on the road, the sunshine dissipated rapidly and was replaced with, at varying times: gale force winds, torrential rain, blue sky, cloud. We had it all, four seasons in one day - and no, that was never considered as the title for this post. Oh, yeah, and contra flows, did I mention them? At least three.

I was shocked to find street art in Kaikōura.

Highway 1, heading to Kaikōura, is NZ's great ocean road drive (if you're Australian). The highway snakes along the coast and the views heading south are epic/awesome/choice. On a fine day. Today I was more concerned with keeping the car on the road in between cyclonic gusts and rain downpours. Had the weather been different, this post would be punctuated with pictures of turquoise waters and black beaches. Maybe I would have stopped to photograph the three morons who chose the sheltered spot to go surfing - you know, the corner of the beach out of the wind that hasn't seen a surfable wave all day. How cool do they look to the passing traffic? Yeah, not that cool in my book. They might catch a cold, but that would be it.

Kaikōura is a Maori word, kai is food and kōura is crayfish. Or creyfush as they say here. Maybe lobster would be easier to say. We arrived at the almost brand new Sudima Hotel in blustery conditions with the rain not knowing what to do. Our room is lovely and has water views, an unexpected bonus. the staff are delightful, although the young man on the desk didn't get Jayne's sense of humour. "What brings you to Kaikōura?" he asked. "Sunshine," replied Jayne, deadpan. One of the girls at the desk laughed. Not he, "Oh!" was the response.

Snow capped mountains and a sea view.

The weather did improve late in the afternoon, but not early enough for us to don rain jackets and brave the buffeting wind. Instead we opted to dine in at the hotel restaurant and research some possible excursions for tomorrow. The possibilities are endless; tramping, eating crayfish, tramping, photographing wildlife, eating crayfish, tramping. We'll make the best attempt to include drinking wine in tomorrow's agenda as well.

Lengthening shadows, but sunshine.

Dinner at Hiku at the hotel was most enjoyable. They do a good crayfish (lobster). Service was great and we chatted, OK, Jayne chatted with an American couple at the next table and our American server. The light was fading, but we snapped a few shots before returning to our room.

The title today, from the 1983 Split Enz album of the same name, sums up how we feel. Our trip is drawing to a close and while it will be good to heading home, there is more to explore.

Tomorrow the sun is supposed to be shining and we will be walking around the headland trail.

Until next time ...