Trip North: Part 2

I left off with me driving north to Kiakoura.  It’s about two and and half hours from Christchurch to Kiakoura, but the drive took me about 4 because of various reasons. One was due to road work, another cause I got tired and took a nap halfway, and the last was because I stopped along the way to explore the shore a little.

After my brief stop I continued on to my hostel called the Dusky Lodge. It had a great communal area with a pool and jacuzzi in the back. I made myself some mac ‘n’ cheese for dinner again and did my last post. I also went and chilled in the Jacuzzi for a while, which was very relaxing. Then I went to sleep.

The next morning I got up around 9, took a shower,  checked out of the hostel and spent the morning in Kiakoura exploring.

Kaikoura itself isn’t all that spectacular. It basically has one main street with hotels, stores and restaurants populating it. The thing that draws all the tourism is the beaches, mountains and wildlife in the area.

 Since Kiakoura was built on a peninsula a beach runs the northern length of the town. Parts of it are rocky and parts are sandy. But from what I hear, in the high summer it’s a really popular beach location. On the other side of the peninsula is a shallow rocky ledge that has been worn down by the waves constantly beating against it. During low tide it is possible to walk on it, giving it the feeling of the deck of a ship. (or so I hear)

In addition to the beaches there are huge white capped mountains that dominate the landscape.  It’s like the mountain range decided not to have hills before the mountains. Or they were worn away by erosion. It can be surreal to stand on the end of the peninsula and look out at the endlessly blue Pacific Ocean then turn around to see towering mountains. It was awe inspiring to say the least.

There is a really cool hike that runs around the tip of the peninsula that I did that morning. You can either walk on top of the bluffs or take the low road that runs right up against the sea. What I did was walk on top of the bluffs going one direction then turning around and walking the sea rout back to my car.

After about 3 hours I was done with my hike and decided to drive to Blenhium to stay the night. At least that was the plan. Once I got to Blenhium is realized that there is literally nothing there. Or rather, there is nothing of interest. It’s only touristy things are the vineyards. Other than that they have a handful of hotels and one hostel. I decided just to head up to Picton, where I would have to drop the car off the next morning.

When I got to Picton I went to the I-site to try to find some good hiking routes, it was only 5 and I still have 3-4 hours of sunlight. Yeah. 3-4. The sun literally never goes down. 

I-sites are these awesome New Zealand things that we don’t have in the states. They are at basically every respectably sized town (about 1000 people).  The sites have people who are thing solely for helping tourists. You can book hotels, tours, buses, and basically anything your heart desires. While I went to the i-site to find some hikes, I ended up booking my bus for the next day and my lodging for the next two nights. The lady does everything and I just hand her my credit card. No fee included.

I first stopped at my hostel, where I found at they had free bike use during the day and apple crumble at 8. Aspraw[0ehraw[0eifa9fj FREE APPLE CRUMBLE! It’s basically apple cobbler. Before the much anticipated apple crumble I decided to go on a bike ride, on nearby mountain biking routes. When I was getting ready, my roommate, who was a 40 year old guy from Tabago, but lives in Australia, walked in with a bike helmet. His name was Sherwin and we went biking together.

We didn’t really know where we were going, and ended up going on a hiking trail instead of biking. I’m not sure if you’ve ever tried to bike ride UP stairs, but it isn’t easy, much less possible. We had to carry our bikes half the time. At one point I fell down a small cliff and Sherwin caught the bike so it didn’t fall on me.

Once we found the actual biking trails the ride was enjoyable. The trails were easy and smooth. They also had some great views. Sherwin and I took a break on a stone beach and watched boats come and go for a while.

We ended up getting back to the hostel at around 7:30, which gave me half an hour to make dinner before apple crumble. I made myself ramen. You may realize how unhealthily I eat. That’s because cooking a real meal takes a lot of money and time, and I’m just lazy. After my delicious ramen, Sherwin and I made friends with some Scottish girls. We ate our delicious apple crumble and ice cream and talked for a while before getting an early night. 

Not much happened to me after that. I dropped off the car. Took the bus to Nelson where I stayed the night. Ironically I ran into some wwoofers from the orchard that left a day or two after I got there, and talked with them. Then I got the bus too Takaka where I got picked up by Ricky. (The same ricky that gave me a ride and let me stay in his truck.) It’s been at his house that I’ve been staying for the past week.

My next post will describe my crazy and fun adventures I’ve had while I’ve been here!

Cheers