Kaikoura 🐳

Unfortunately, Kaikoura was the last stop on our unplanned 2-week joint road trip for the German, Dutch and Austrian travel group. It was “On the road again” for us one last time for 6 hours. After a leisurely morning with a final breakfast on our terrace in Otematata, we set off for Kaikoura later in the morning. This time without any sightseeing stops, just a few pee breaks. The closer we got to Kaikoura, the higher the mountains became and the closer the sea came. Then my mind, which was actually quite tired after the somewhat long last night, immediately woke up again. Sea, mountains and surfing in one place in New Zealand, what more could you want? So for me it's everything my heart desires. Going back to hostel life was actually quite nice. Especially when you have a hostel with a pool, hot tub and BBQ, the atmosphere in this hostel was correspondingly relaxed. In fact, nothing else happened that day other than playing cards, like every evening of our road trip. The next morning I couldn't miss it and went to the beach early to watch the sunrise. Definitely paid off for this pretty beautiful sunrise. Afterwards we had homemade Dutch pancakes again for breakfast. Then we first explored the city in daylight. In the afternoon we tried our luck at fishing, but unfortunately it didn't work out this time either. I still enjoyed the afternoon by the sea. Because it got pretty cold afterwards, we went into the hot tub to warm up. Then at sunset we fired up the grill, grilled with an incredible view and enjoyed the food. In the evening I went to the beach again to look at the stars. I didn't know what fascinated me more, the high waves on the shore or the starry sky. That night was simply gigantic and breathtaking, because it wasn't too cold, it was possible to stand rooted to the spot on the beach for quite a while. The next day we really slept in and started the day with a cozy brunch. Afterwards, the plan was to surf, but unfortunately we discovered that there were no waves in the city's bay and therefore surfing was unfortunately not possible for us. So only the surf shops in the city were explored. On our last evening together of the road trip we switched from beer to Aperol and Prosecco. We played cards until late into the night and simply enjoyed the time together. The last day was started very early again to see one last sunrise in New Zealand for the time being. This sunrise was simply magical. Hardly any wind, the sun directly over the sea like I have rarely seen and the first rays of sunshine on the beach to close your eyes again! Afterwards we all went on the boat to go whale watching, which was pretty shaky. Thank God we didn't drink too much yesterday ;-). We were then able to see 2 huge SpermWhales. After 3 hours on the boat, we were happy to have solid, calm ground under us again. In the afternoon I went on to Christchurch, from where I continued on to Australia the next afternoon. In the evening I just walked around the city a bit and ended my last evening under a beautiful full moon in the Botanical Gardens in Christchurch. 🌕🫶🏼