The spectacular South

A sleepy seal

Despite getting up early we still found ourselves rushing last minute to get to the ferry on time! We made it with a few minutes to spare, parked up and got settled in. I was a bit worried about motion sickness on the ferry as I’ve not had the best of times on a ferry before, and this was a 3 hour journey. It was a big ferry though and had a nice bar so we just set up camp in there, and ended up watching two football matches back to back, Phil was in his element and it helped distract me from the movement of the ferry! The journey went nice and quickly and we were at the Picton terminal by 11.30am. We set on our way to Kaikoura, which took us 2 hours and the drive was smooth. We got to our campsite which was a really nice one, and just after getting the tent up, a whole family of ducklings came charging over to us, it was the cutest thing I’ve ever seen! We got a slice of bread and sat and fed them. They were very cheeky jumping up trying to get it out my hand and pecking at the toggle on my raincoat! Then some sea gulls game flocking in, they got rowdy and started fighting and all sorts! After that was over we went out and drove to Point Kean on the peninsula, where there are various walks and a seal colony. It was so lovely seeing the seals up so very close, they were all just laying out on the beach, sunbathing. Signs warn you to stay about 10 meters from them as they can attack quite viciously. People were getting fairly close to them and they didn’t seem phased, I’m sure they’re quite tame after being used to having flocks of people round them day in day out. Unfortunately just up the way, there was a large, backwards family thinking it was hilarious to throw sticks and rocks and the seals as they lay relaxing, to try and get them to do something. We were both so furious, the middle aged parents were getting involved and all. We wanted to walk away, but I felt the longer we stood there staring at them and shaking our heads, the more they’d become aware of their behaviour and how unacceptable it was. And sure enough they moved on, after making the remark ’dumb animals’ to which I replied ’probably cleverer than you’. They proceeded to get more shocked and disapproving looks from the other people in the main bit, and then after the little girl threw a rock that very nearly got a seal right on it’s head, they left altogether, thank God. Absolutely disgusting people. We both ranted about that for a long time after, it really put a bit of a dampener on the day having to witness people like that existing on the same planet as us. Still, we did enjoy it and we walked up to the top of the hill to get some amazing views out of the ocean. When we got back we had some dinner and then cracked open some drinks in preparation of the rugby world cup final! We wandered up to the Kaikoura RFC to watch the game with a pint of Tui! It was a very tense game, but so good to see the All Blacks get the win they deserved.

Stunning view from the camp site

It was freezing again that night, but dry at least. We both ended up needing the loo in the middle of the night and on returning to the tent, decided to sleep in the car to help keep warm! It was a bit awkward sleeping in the car but definitely warmer. We woke up to a clear blue sky and blazing sunshine, and discovered we had the most amazing view of the mountains in the Alpine Pacific Triangle right at the back of the camp site, it was really beautiful. A few people looked a little weary in the morning as we packed our stuff up! We watched the reports on the celebrations in Auckland that had been going on all night, and they said the All Blacks would be doing their victory parade in Auckland on the Monday, and then Christchurch on Tuesday, when we are there! Before finishing on Wednesday in Wellington. So we excitedly set off for Christchurch, on a very nice scenic drive, and arrived just after mid day. The hostel we were at was very small but very nice. We went out for the afternoon to wander around what parts of the city we could. Such a huge chunk of it is in the ‘red zone’ which is inaccessible. It was really very shocking and eerie seeing the destruction that the earthquake caused earlier this year. It was a very solemn and thought provoking walk. Christchurch is a very beautiful city, very picturesque, it is so sad that a disaster of this magnitude occurred in this city. We got ourselves a Pizza Hut takeaway for the evening and got another early night.

A destroyed city

We had a relaxing morning, and then went for a drive to Lyttelton just outside Christchurch to absorb some nice scenery. All roads were small and residential around Lyttelton and we got really lost. When we eventually found the road we needed to be on to get to the peninsula, it was closed off due to damage caused by the earthquake. So that was a short lived trip and we headed back to the hostel for some lunch and to get ready for the All Blacks victory parade! So after lunch we walked up to the edge of Hagley Park and got there early enough to get a front row view at the edge of the curb! We waited for an hour for the parade to reach us, eventually a brass band came along, doing their version of Katrina and the Waves - Walking on sunshine. They were really good and then they suddenly stopped and crouched down, so people clapped thinking they’d finished, but then they broke into the haka, it was amazing! After they’d finished that they carried on and finished the song. Shortly after came the All Blacks players, with the cup at the end. It was amazing to see them in person, I filmed them all go by and then when they finished they all went on a big stage which was in the park, so we stood and watched that too. We got back to the hostel around 5pm, had some dinner and then relaxed for the evening. How lucky we were to experience that!

The All Blacks and their world cup!