Day 45: Christchurch to Kaikoura

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Right before I left Christchurch, I made a bad mistake. I had been trying to leave Celtic Backpackers quietly and considerately, since the shuttle was picking me up at 6 a.m. So I slipped quietly and considerately out the door, closed it, locked it -- and realized that I had left my walking stick inside.

I panicked, and banged frantically on the door, inadvertently terrifying Kym, the hostel's owner, who thought that someone was being mugged outside her house. To her credit, she did open the door, and my stick was restored to me. I feel terrible about it, though. I had really liked her and her hostel, and I had so wanted to leave a good impression. Now I'm afraid I am doomed to be remembered forever as That Stupid American Who Scared Us to Death.

The TranzCoastal was a disappointment. In the first place, it swayed terribly, creating a nasty side-to-side motion that jarred my artificial collarbone. In the second place, the vaunted coastal views did not begin until right before my stop in Kaikoura. Before that, it was all mountains and sheep and cows. Mind you, mountains and sheep and cows are all very nice, but I've got a lot of pictures of them already.

I wished I had taken an InterCity bus, which would have been equally scenic and not nearly so painful. It didn't help that I was booked into seat 6E, and so was another stout backpacking lady with glasses. I moved; I needed to sit in a seat where I had some chance of bracing my arm, anyhow.

Unfortunately, I'll have to ride the train again to get to Picton, but I'll have a few days to rest up, and at least this time there should be sea views. I've changed my mind, by the way. I'm really very glad now that I did fly to Christchurch on JetStar, rather than trying to take the Overlander. And I'm glad I didn't shell out the money for the TransAlpine. The Taieri Narrow-Gauge Railway, on the other hand, was smooth as glass and a pleasure to ride.

Although I reconfirmed successfully with Albatross Backpackers, in a few hours they e-mailed me to tell me that they had inadvertently double-booked their single, and that they would find me accommodation in an equivalent hostel and pay the cost of my transportation to the other location.

The other location turned out to be Dusky Lodge. It had a number of negative reviews, which it may yet live up to. Most of them involved complaints about drunken guests, and I'll be here over the weekend. But so far it seems fairly decent. There's a pool and hot tub, which makes up for a lot. The bed is a comfortable double, and there's good Internet access. On the downside, unlike Albatross, Dusky is on the tourist-trap strip into town, Beach Road, rather than in Kaikoura itself.

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