Blogs from Kaikoura, South Island, New Zealand, Oceania

Trans Alpine Railway and Kaikoura. We left Franz Joseph by 0900 hours after collecting the video of the Kayak session. Our aim was to get to Greymouth by 1300 hrs. On the way we stopped at a few view points to see some waterfalls, a bridge where you could get a magnificent view of the snow capped moutains, and again at a sea side supposed to be a surfers paradise (only a couple of people surfing). Again the scenery on the way was unbelievably beautiful, I keep repeating that, between the mountains, rivers and the rain forest. Then we stopped at a small seaside town, Hokitika, famous for works in jade and we had a chance to see the craftsmen at work. Some of the group bought small items as souvenirs which were symbols of Maori ... read more

We arrived early morning in Picton and set off on a 3 hour journey to the Nelson area, home to our friend Ben Cameron. We stayed in Motueka the first night and drove up to Farewell Spit in the furthest reaches of the North West tip of the South Island. We stopped on a site near the Able Tasman park right next to the beach. Whilst swimming we spotted some Dolphins jumping in the distance. I decided to go back to the van for a warm but curiosity grabbed Jess and sent her off to see if she could get a closer look at the Dolphins. She ventured into the water and the Dolphins swam up to her and around her, WILD DOLPHINS :) no touts trying to sell tickets, no cost!! just pure human and ... read more

Hello All! So we left Haast and Jonny's pride behind and made our way over to Franz Josef Glacier, something which we were both really looking forward to. We decided to take the time to drive via Jackson's Bay which was supposed to be a brilliant drive - and it didn't disappoint. We stopped in Jackson's Bay and walked round with a cup of tea trying to avoid the sandflies. The Bay literally consisted of about 3 buildings and a public toilet but the view over the sea was amazing, unfortunately it was out of season but there tends to be a lot of penguins and other birds there. The rest of the drive to Franz Josef tested Jonnys driving skills. We drove up mountain after mountain on really winding roads and ended up in the ... read more

Ganz langsam beginnt der heutige Tag. 7 Uhr soll der Bus beladen werden. Gestern haben noch viele gemeint, dass sie viertel vor 6 aufstehen. Als ich mich dann kurz nach 6 in der Dusche finde, bin ich der erste hier. Naja, ich habe meine Ruhe und ganz entspannt startet der Morgen. Nachdem dem Frühstück wird der Bus beladen. Die Türen für den Gepäckraum sind bereits offen, nur der Fahrgastraum ist noch gesperrt. Gegen 7.30 Uhr kommt dann doch auch noch der Busfahrer. Auf geht es zum ersten Stop, Christchurch. Hier werden unsere zwei Busse größtenteils entladen, da viele von hier aus mit dem Flieger weiter machen. Einige neue Leute kommen dazu und dann geht es mit nur einem Bus weiter in Richtung Kaikoura. Christchurch selbst bekommen wir gar nicht weiter zu sehen. Der Busfahrer erzählt u.a., ... read more