Hamner Springs and Kaikoura

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November 30th 2008

Published: November 30th 2008

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J J

Buller Gorge

That's me on the swing bridge.

Hamner Springs and Kaikoura
November 30, 2008

Yesterday I wrote that in NZ we don’t drive much on any one day, but today we drove a little over four hours traveling from Karamea on the west coast to Kaikoura on the east coast. We drove through more twisty mountain roads with nothing to see but scenery!

The first stop was in Buller Gorge near Murchison where we crossed the biggest swing bridge in NZ and took a short walk, mainly to stretch our legs a bit.

Second stop was an ice cream and window-shopping stop in the pretty tiny town of Hanmer Springs. We had planned on spending the night here and soaking it up in the thermal springs, but we had seen all we needed to see here in about an hour and traveled on. I’m sure the Hanmer Springs Tourist Council would have issues with that last sentence. It, too, is one of those places where one can do all the extreme activities like bungy jumping and jet boating.

Now we are in Kaikoura, a town known for its sperm whales, fur seals, dolphins, and bird life. It is in a spectacular location

The first time we read this we promised to never use the door to heat the place.

on a peninsula with nearby snow-capped mountains. We took a walk on the beach and had excellent Thai food in town. It was nice when we got here but the weather has turned on us and it is supposed to rain tomorrow.

The day wasn’t as boring as it sounds.

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