April 1st
– April 6th 2012
We flew from Nadi
and were meant to be going to Christchurch. Because of the flooding in Fiji the
flight was severely delayed, once we got off the ground we experienced a bit of
turbulence and got dropped off in Auckland instead. No one seemed to know what
to do and the airline didn’t offer any answers. We explained our situation but
were told that we needed to make our own arrangements to get to Christchurch,
it felt like we were meant to be grateful that we were in New Zealand even
though we were on the wrong island. After being told that flights were $900 to Christchurch
and after a few tears we were told that we had been booked on to an Air New
Zealand flight leaving in less than half an hour. We had to get to departures
and check in but we were too late and missed the flight. Eventually after lots
of confusion and queue waiting we were booked on to another Air New Zealand
flight free of charge. We made it to Christchurch and after a shuttle bus
journey got to our accommodation The Old Countryhouse. We settled in to our lovely
dorm room and had an early night to make up for a stressful few days.
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| Christchurch Centre |
After a good
night’s sleep we decided to walk to the city centre or what was left of it
after the devastating earthquake a couple of years ago. The city was eerily
quiet, like a ghost town. Big fences contained some areas and there were
buildings boarded up and rubble everywhere. We finally got to the new hub of
the city where they’ve made use of shipping containers and turned them into
shops and cafes. They looked brilliant and really gave the place some life. We
stopped for lunch in one of the contemporary containers and had a tomato and
brie toasted baguette. We then walked west to the botanical gardens where we
found a tourist centre and booked a coach and accommodation in Kaikoura. We
walked along the River Avon and enjoyed the sunshine though there was a
definite temperature drop from what we’d been used to for the last few months.
April 3rd
was our trip to Kaikoura and our coach was at 7am. We got up before dawn and
walked to the coach stop which was a fair walk away but we needed to save money
so didn’t arrange a taxi. The journey was a comfortable one and took just 2 and
a half hours. As we got closer to Kaikoura we saw dolphins in the water and
seals on the waters edge. We got dropped off right outside our hostel which was
called Fish Tank and dropped off our bags. It was wet so we tried out our new
brolly and went out for supplies. We had soup for lunch in the great hostel
kitchen and booked ourselves on to the 7:15 whale watching tour for the next
day. I get travel sick on boats so invested in some expensive seasickness
tablets to stave off the queasiness tomorrow. The tour was quite expensive and
I didn’t want to waste my money by spending the whole time throwing up. We wandered
around the shops and treated ourselves to a hot chocolate in one of the cafes.
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| Sleeping Seals |
We woke up at 6:15
and after breakfast made our way to Whale Watch. On our way we saw a beautiful
sun rise over the ocean. We had a safety briefing and boarded the bus which
took us to the harbour. We took our seats and made our way out to sea. The sea
was choppy but my tablets seemed to be working. It took a while to track down a
whale but once we did it was absolutely breath taking. We watched it dive with
its tail in the air, water dripping off and a rainbow forming in the light. We
were lucky and saw a total of four whales as well as a massive pod of dusky
dolphins, albatross birds and seals too. It was an unforgettable day and one of
the best day trips that we have ever done.
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| Sperm Whale |
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| Dusky Dolphins |
We decided to stay
for another day in Kaikoura as we loved it so much. We picked up some snacks
and decided to do the Kaikoura Peninsula walk which would take about 3-4 hours
according to Lonely Planet. We set off and climbed hundreds of steps to get to
the top of the peninsula, after a good hour of walking we got to some
viewpoints with some breath-taking views of the hills and surrounding
countryside. The highlight of the walk was the seal colony where you can get
quite close to them in their natural environment. The walk was tiring and the
sun caught us out as although it was a breezy day the sun was powerful so we
were a little burnt. We made a big veggie fry up for dinner which received lots
of jealous comments from fellow hostel guests!
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| Kaikoura Walk |
 |
| Kaikoura Walk |
April 6th
was our last day in Kaikoura and we packed everything up. Our coach wasn’t
until after lunchtime so we could relax and take it easy. We took one last
stroll along the beach and watched as the waves crashed into the stones. We
couldn’t get back into our nice hostel in Christchurch so ended up in a
different one which was really grotty. Luckily we only had one night there, the
following day we were meeting Craig’s mum and dad at the airport and sampling
motorhome life in New Zealand.
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