Tag 25 & 26 - Kaikoura - Kaitaki - Viewpoint - Robben

We took an Uber to the pier on Friday. The driver was older, but very, very pleasant, courteous and nice. Old school. That was a tip. Afterwards we took the Kaitaki 🦈🐙⛴️ from Wellington (North Island) to Picton (South Island) in 3.5 hours. It is advertised as the most beautiful ferry trip in the world. It was probably the windiest ferry ride 😅. The comparison options on our part are manageable. I can only repeat myself: the view is pretty cool. Definitely made you feel happy. The Kaitaki even has a cinema on board 😀. I also met a couple on deck who live in Canada. He is Canadian and lived in Germany for six years. She comes from Singapore, was also in Germany once and gave me a few tips for her hometown and said that I speak English well. I was happy about that. Her husband also said that I speak English better than he speaks German 😁👍🏻.

When we reached the mainland again, I picked up a new rental car almost directly from the pier. The car ride that followed was probably the most beautiful ride of my life. The weather was very nice. Although it is always a little colder on the South Island and spring is just starting. At first you could see mountains everywhere. A road roughly spiraled up the outside of a mountain, like you see on TV. Right next to the asphalt it went down pretty deep. I really ask myself: who is actually so crazy and is building a road to the edge of the abyss?😅 After a while, the horizon on the left side of the road (SH 1 again, probably goes from the far north to the south😅) sparkled with such beautiful turquoise . The Pacific appeared and was often less than 10m away. On the other side were the mountains, some of which were covered in snow. That was an awesome panorama. Driving was really fun there. I would have liked to stop every 1000 m, sit on the side of the road with a camping chair and just look around like a daydreamer.

At some point we arrived at the Hamptons in Kaikura. Patrick, our host, was very nice, funny and lives in the same house with his wife. You can tell straight away that he loves his town and knows every mountain by name. He was once in Germany himself, but the wall was still there 😅. We were given tips for restaurants and a viewpoint, which we immediately put into practice. What a blessing! From the viewpoint we had a sensational view over Kaikura, which unfortunately cannot be captured in pictures. I so wish you (whoever is actually reading this) could see this! 😊

In the evening we went to Slam for dinner. There was a meat plate for two that was really delicious. Top recommendation from Patrick 👍🏻.

On Saturday morning the Hamptons made us breakfast with lots of love. We just had a great chat about politics, history and the like. I barely got to breakfast 😂. But it was a really, really nice morning (morning😅).

When we were finally finished, we packed our backpacks and strolled over to the seals! We walked along stony/rocky beaches. The animals were relatively relaxed. We were able to get within about 10 m of you without any problems. They seemed very relaxed, but one eye was still on us 😁.

In the afternoon we went through the city of Kaikoura (3500 inhabitants😅). I was desperately looking for a hairdresser and we actually found one: but unfortunately it was closed. Great, I have to keep walking around like I did during Corona times😅. We each bought a T-shirt for this. Oh and by the way: at the hotel in Taupo we met a German couple who were doing a similar route to us. She said jokingly: “Maybe we’ll see each other again”…. We saw her again barely 3 days later in Kaikoura 🤣.

Good night 😴