A trip to Kaikoura

Hello everyone,

I'm back again, this time from Kaikoura. I spent the last few days in Christchurch, but didn't do much. There was a brief hope that I could get my laptop repaired there, and since a snowstorm made it impossible to follow my planned route, I decided to make an unplanned longer stop in Christchurch. The highlights were a trip to Sumner beach, a drive along the Inland Scenic Route past Mt Hutt with camping at Godley Head, and a short return to Miller Bar, where I worked on Saturday and made enough money to cover the accommodation costs in Christchurch. It was also great to see everyone again and realize that almost nothing has changed.

On Sunday (10.09), I drove to Kaikoura. Kaikoura is a small coastal town beautifully located in a bay. Unfortunately, this area was hit by a severe earthquake in November of last year, which caused a lot of damage to the region. The highway from Christchurch to Kaikoura is now open on weekends, which fortunately attracts some tourists again. As I mentioned before, I drove on Sunday, and was able to follow Highway 1 along the sea and through the mountains, which was very beautiful. A little detour led me to Cathedral Lookout, from where you have a super beautiful and unusual view of Gore Bay. There is a huge limestone formation between the lookout and the bay. If the internet cooperates, I can upload a photo for you. Otherwise, please be patient until tomorrow, when hopefully I either have my laptop working or, as usual, will be sitting in the library. So if there are no pictures, make sure to check back. Anyway, after this lovely drive, I arrived in Kaikoura in the late afternoon and checked into my hostel room. My roommate Emma, from Taiwan, was super friendly and we had a nice conversation in the evening. However, I went to bed quite early, I think I was already asleep by 8 pm, because I had worked at the bar the night before and still woke up just before 8 am. Also, there was an activity planned for the next day, today, in the early morning.

Today (11.09), I got up at 6:30 am, as there was supposed to be a whale watching tour, a boat trip to see whales, shortly after 7 am. But overnight, apparently there was a storm that made the water so rough that the tour was cancelled. Very disappointing. But fortunately, I was able to reschedule for the morning tour tomorrow. Yay, now fingers crossed that not only the tour takes place but also that I see whales. I'm counting on you. After this unsuccessful morning, I drove to a lookout point where you have a nice view over the bay, went shopping, and enjoyed a second breakfast. Then, Emma decided to join me on this day, and together we went on a beautiful hike - the Kaikoura Peninsula Walkway. This trail follows the coast around the entire bay. We were lucky enough to encounter fur seals right in the middle of our path, and also saw a baby seal, sorry Steph, the mom took good care of it.... As we walked along the cliffs, we saw even more large seal colonies. Along the cliffs, we then walked through a beautiful grassland with snow-capped mountains in the background and the blue ocean on the other side. A highly recommended hike. It's now late afternoon again, there's not much left to do for today except having dinner and getting ready for tomorrow.

Unfortunately, I didn't manage to post my blog last night, as the internet was terribly overloaded. But then at least you'll get the complete Kaikoura post all at once, which is also something. This morning (12.09), much to the delight of my now 4 roommates, I got up at 6 am again to start my whale tour. But this time, it was combined with the joys of packing. When I arrived at the whale station at 7:25 am, there was the joyful news that the tour would take place. So I took a seat in front of the TV and watched the documentary about the whales that was shown there. Suddenly, one of the staff members came to us and informed us that the captain had just called and the tour could no longer take place. The disappointment was of course very big for everyone. The staff then offered us to switch to a whale flight tour. Said and done, and at 8:30 am, I was supposed to be at the Kaikoura airport where the whale flights start. In a small Cessna, with 4 seats, we took off into the sky. The view of the sea and back to the land was impressive. But unfortunately, we couldn't spot any whales far and wide. And I have to admit that the flight made me feel a little sick, and I was slightly green around the nose when we landed again. So it seems that the whales are hiding from me, and it won't be my luck to see whales on this vacation anymore. But well. That's how nature works, it doesn't play by our rules. After this disappointment, I drove back to Christchurch, this time via the Inland Route, which was very beautiful but also had a lot of hairpin turns and some impressive potholes. Some of them could probably fit a seal. ;) Tonight, I will probably meet up with the people from the bar, but other than that, there's not much planned. Tomorrow, I will continue on Arthurs Pass, hoping that the snowstorm has cleared by now. I will keep you updated.

Until then,

your Jessi