To Kaikoura

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Heading north west, our first pit stop was a town that reminded me of Gundagai. Reefton was very quiet but the fluttering flags of the competing nations in the rugby World Cup indicated that somebody lived there. The tourist info centre contained the usual gifts/souvenirs/pamphlets and stuff about the region. We learned that the only indigenous land mammal in NZ is a long tailed bat and native to the area. Which explains why we haven't seen anything else other than sheep, cows and roadkill (stoats and possums). Oh, and a few birds. I don't understand how people have seen kiwis in the wild whilst driving along - they're nocturnal! I don't think we are going to see any bats either.
Anyway, back in the blue corolla, we made our way to Hamner Springs along another ridiculously scenic roadway. The hot springs are the main attraction in this town and the reason why we detoured off the highway. With a glorious blue sky, snow capped mountains in the distance and a well manicured lounge area, we easily spent a few hours lazing around. It's a pretty big complex, with lots of different pools, and for a brilliant day on the school holidays it didn't feel crowded at all.
Back in the car, we devoured the remaining Anzac oat bars and set off to the east coast. Reaching a fork in the road, we didn't weigh up the options properly and ended up driving along narrow, winding roads for a significant part of the trip. We have now seen approximately 20 million sheep and 5 million cows.
Although the little lamb chops were adorable as they frolicked about in their pastures, the road we took was definitely the road less travelled. I'm not sure how much longer this route was compared to the other, because our free maps don't have distances on them, but knowing we were going to have to retrace our steps in a couple of days was mega annoying.

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