Lady Luck was laughing at us!

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Finally we were on board the inter islander ferry, we settled in with a cheeky cider and an ice cream for most of the journey. When we came into Marlborough sounds we went above deck and wow was it fantastic. It reminded me of Milford sounds a bit from last year when I was here. We stayed up there all the way into picton- despite being hit on by a man old enough to be my father (we politely declined the invitation to stay in his motel room- several times!) once off at the other end we headed the long way around to Kaikoura due to the road closures. This would lead us to stop for the night at a place called lake Rotoiti which was beautiful! We camped in a spot literally on the lake front after a banquet of peanut butter sandwiches and chocolate cake - we had no shopping!! The next morning it was up early to get over to Hanmer springs, again for a pit stop before Kaikoura. Filled with fuel and a coffee on board we plugged it into the sat nav and off we went. I got a bit alarmed when the route was directing us to turn off onto the rainbow skiing fields but Jo was full of confidence and said how bad could it be?? Well I couldn't argue with that, so off we went. About 5k in the road was gravelly but manageable- positively flat even. Then it got a bit bumpier, and a bit more bumpier, then we went over a little stream, and then it got even more bumpier. It was at this point I was getting worried- Jo was loving it! I was literally saying I don't think we should be here as we came across quite a large river! After some brief discussion/coercion from Jo we agreed if we could get over that, it couldn't possibly be any worse! Oh my
God was that the wrong decision to make. Poor schnitzel did thankfully get over the river but made a huge bang and crash as she did. To the point we actually got out and checked we still had everything attached. After calming down we headed on- me still bricking it! It didn't get much better I'll be honest, down a superbly steep hill in mud with hairpin bends. I swear I had my eyes shut for most of it, Jo even shouted at me for making squealing noises! So when a man stopped us and knocked on the window I was relieved! 'Girls are you sure you wanna be on this road? It's meant for 4x4's and it gets pretty rough up there!' After some back and forth we decided to head for the toll station a few mins further on and then decide if we wanted to turn back! Two mins in we chickened out and headed back down! The only problem now was getting back up that hill and over the river again! I was literally having kittens! So back we went- I'd love to say it was less traumatic on the way back....but it wasn't! As you can tell we thankfully lived to tell the tale and schnitzel now had a death rattle to remind us of our off roading experience.
Arrival at Hanmer springs was welcomed with open arms after a longer but much smoother journey. To recover from earlier events we headed to the thermal springs for a relax and chill- both reeling in post- what the hell did we just do!
Next day we were up early to be in Kaikora on the road again! We got half way there and needed to turn left to continue when we were told- sorry young'uns the roads closed ay! So back we went and yet another detour was taken. Finally we arrived excited ready for some whale watching! Only to be told - the boat was broke ay! And was currently being fixed,. So we had to wait to see if we were actually going.
Thankfully our luck has taken a beautiful turn and we were going. The sun was out, the water was calm and boy did we get our money's worth! We saw not one but two sperm whales resting on the surface and then go back under the sea - complete with a tail flick! Loads of dolphins swimming along side the boat so close your could have touched them. Then the captain comes over the radio and said 'folks were taking a bit of a detour because we have heard sightings of a humpback whale surface feeding in the next bay' off we went in search. The next thing I know Jo is squealing, diving between people's legs trying to get a shot of this whale. Hanging out on the other side of the boat, I turned to a lady and said 'how cool would it be if he just popped up in front of us now?' And with that he did!!! We had such an awesome time on this trip, we were on a high for the whole day. As we got back in the weather changed again and we found ourselves camped out on a beach in a storm!!! It was lovely though and Jo managed to see dolphins again in the water the next morning from where we were staying! Kaikoura done with it was off to Christchurch to meet up with my gorgeous kiwi brother Julian and Jem his wife and maybe an old friend Jay!
It's lovely Bobbing along on the beautiful briney sea lots of love Lauren and Jo! X

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