Advertisement
Published: March 1st 2009
Edit Blog Post
25th February 2009 - SEALS GALORE & SPECIAL POSTCARDS HOME!!!
The drive to Kaikoura was somewhat awful!! I was so so tired and my ipod only lasted for the first half hour on what turned out to be a 4 hour drive. I was ok to begin with but as time went on my eyes became itchy and heavy and despite all my efforts they kept trying to close. I looked for some matchsticks but there weren't any around and I was really struggling. I couldn't really say anything as Nat drove yesterday and it was definitely my turn today. The fact that we had no music didn't help as we kept losing the reception due to poor signal. It was also very wet and grey when we set off so i needed to be even more alert than usual...not the case here!! After a couple of hours, Nat fell asleep at the side of me...she was very tired too. The rain had cleared up though and we seemed to be driving into some sunshine but even so the warmth through the windscreen just made me even more sleepy!! I battled on but found myself on the other side of the
Playful Seals....love them!!
Shame we couldn't get closer!! road a couple of times after blinking for a second or so longer than I should have done. I put the freezing cold air on and blasted it into my face...it was the only thing that seemed to work despite making my skin look like a chickens because of all the goose bumps!! Nat woke up freezing but at that point I couldn't turn it off or we would have ended up in body bags!! It was the longest drive of my life!!
As we drove into Kaikoura, nat spotted a few seals on the rocks so we pulled over for a better look. We had landed upon a seal colony and there were literally hundreds of seals just lazing about on the rocks and playing in the water. So cool!! We wanted to get closer but signs advised to keep at least 20 metres away due to them biting!! Ok.....I didn't want to suffer that fate. We stood and watched the seals for a while and the cold sea air blew away some of my tiredness before then driving further into town and finding a hostel for the night.
Most places were fully booked but we managed
to get the information centre to book one for us...Dusky lodge...nice enough. 6 bed mixed dorm and a good kitchen. It would do nicely!! We checked in, dumped our bags and then had lunch before setting off into town for a look around and to see what there was to do. Kaikoura is the place in New Zealand for marine life...seals, dolphins and wales mostly. We were a bit disappointed to realise that the whales and dolphins could not be seen from the shore and instead you had to get boat trips or helicopter flights to them. Neither of us were that bothered as we had already encountered George and no whale would ever match up to Free Willy!! We did however check out the swimming with seals trips and kept it in mind for the following morning.
Our next stop in town was a big truck......New Zealand Tourism. Basically they asked if we wanted to send a video postcard home. We could write a little message, upload a few photos and then be recorded whilst we chatted on camera about our trip for as long as we wanted. They would then upload it to You Tube, email us
the link and we could forward it on. I hate being on camera but thought it would be nice for my mum and dad to see me anyway so I went ahead. The writing and photos were easy as but when i got into the birds nest where I had to speak on camera whilst 3 guys watched I went blank!! I wanted to say loads of stuff.....what i'd been up to, talk about my selected photos, tell my dad I wasn't fed up yet (he always asks me if I am), wish my mum happy 50th birthday and loads more including signing off with "I'm Deborah Booth...you stay classy now Yorkshire" but I remembered none of it!! I spoke faster than the speed of light for around 30 seconds and that was your lot. I guess some people are naturals on camera.....I on the other hand have a better face and personality for radio!! Oh well!! Nats was really good though...I watched her do hers and to quote Nat it was "totally cool"!!
Once we had finished with the filming, we set off for a walk along the front. the beach was not really a beach as we
know it...black sand and black pebbles. The bonus being no sand flies!! Woo hoo!!! We walked right around the bay so we could see pretty much all Kaikoura shore line and also to an old whalers house which we wanted to have a nosy at. Once done there we wandered back towards town. Nat went to the hostel and I went on the net to check out how bad my recording was from earlier. It wasn't too bad but I definitely spoke too quickly!! And my voice sounded different!! I then met Nat back at the Hostel, we did a quick supermarket shop and then cooked a big Spag Bol tea. No surprises there then!!!
Once tea was done with Nat went for a sauna and I chilled in the upstairs TV room where I got chatting to an Irish girl about NZ. When I went to the room at around 10.30pm it was pitch black and everyone was in bed. I am getting an expert on changing in the dark and within 5 minutes I was tucked up and sleeping. The sleeping did not last for long though........oh my god!!!
Forget all my past complaints about snorers...they
were amateurs compared to the guy in our room on this night. He caused an earthquake almost. It was re-god-damn-diculous!!! He woke everyone in the room up and we all took turns at shouting things, slamming the door, throwing things at him and generally trying to wake him up so that the 5 of us could sleep. I got angry at one point..why should he be sound asleep and the rest of the room awake? I contemplated going outside with my duvet onto the corridor but the sofa room was locked overnight. He was impossible and I eventually broke down laughing as there was nothing else for it!! Snorers should be sent straight to the gas chamber!!! On top of the snoring which woke me up 3 times in total, the sand fly bites were also coming out and starting to itch. I had 16 on one foot and it was just like having chicken pox. Nats were the same and we both coated our feet in bite relief cream, not that it helped much!! Worst night ever!!!
26th FEBRUARY 2009 - DISAPPOINTMENT!!!
After a pretty much sleepless night I gave in and got up at around 7.30am
leaving the snorer in bed fast asleep. Sickening!! Nat followed me out not long after. We had booked to go swimming with the seals this morning at 11.45am and so we had to get ready, check out and go to the seal shop all for 11.30. Plenty of time!! We were both pretty excited about swimming with the seals.....they were supposed to be very playful and although we were a both scared we were looking forward to it too. It was a bargain...$80 (30 quid) for 2.5 hours swimming with them. So so cheap!! We even bought an underwater disposable to capture the moment!! Ace!!
At 11.30 we went into the shop and were told that the visibility was poor under the water and so the trip was cancelled. we got our money back but were still gutted!! Had been so looking forward to it and it had been taken away from us. We couldn't wait until the next slot either as we had to move on to the next place. Oh well....it wasn't meant to be!! We both hosed there would be another opportunity to do it later in the South island.
We headed back to the
hostel, picked our stuff up and Nat drove us out of Kaikoura though we did stop at the most amazing fudge shop along the way!! I may have given up chocolate, ice cream and biccies but fudge wasn't on that list. They had some amazing flavours and we had free tasters before eventually buying a small sample as a consolation treat to make up for the seals!! It was a good cheer up treat!! We then drove out of kaikoura and waved bye to the seals along our way....next stop...Hanmer springs!!!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.061s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 16; qc: 29; dbt: 0.0254s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb