Blogs from Kaikoura, South Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 42

We headed to Hanmer Springs and Kaikoura for the weekend for a relaxing weekend. Started of going to Hanmer Springs and sitting in the hot spings there. They have a bunch of swimming pools built up there and filled with the heated sping water. It's pretty nice with various pools at different temperatures but it was a little crouded when we were there. It is in a small little town in the mountains which is pretty cool though. From there we headed off to Kaikoura and walked along a pebble beach and then walked out to a seal collony and took pictures until it started to rain and we headed back home. Kaikoura is a great place to relax near the beach or go surfing if I knew how to surf. Someday maybe.... read more

The last thing on my list to do in Queenstown was skiing and fortunately it dumped the night before I was planning to go so the conditions were excellent, altough the light was the worst I've ever seen on the first day which was a bit scary considering the Kiwis inabaility to mark the pistes in any way. Came very close on a couple of occasions to falling off small cliffs, still it made it more exciting and the snow was really good. The resorts in NZ are much much smaller than Europe but all the same it was good enough for a day in each so I did four days. All in all it was wicked fun, pretty gutted when it dumped a foot and a half the night before I left QT, followed by ... read more

Hello everyone! We are back in the south island in a place on the east cost called Kaikoura. We arrived here two days ago after getting the ferry from Wellington to Picton and then the Trans Coastal railway to Kaikoura. Ferry journey was on Tom's favourite Portsmouth lady friend again 'The Pride of Le Havre', yes! but much to his disapointment not a rough crossing, think that he wants to test out his sea legs but no it was as flat as a pancake, perfect for a little sleep - the excitement of last night's pub quizz was catching up with us - it's free to enter and after many weeks of trying we came 3rd so won a $25 bar tab, SCORE - oh but we won't be there next week to spend it, boooo! ... read more

When I arrived in Kaikoura it was pitch black and I went straight to the hostel along the esplanade. After a game of yahtzee and a good nights sleep I woke up to something very unexpected...a spectacular view of the Kaikoura Ranges across the water opposite the hostel, covered with snow. I knew these ranges were really nearby but didn't have a clue what direction. It was such a lovely suprise to start my day with which just got even better... After putting on my sexy wetsuit, socks and jacket I boarded a small boat which sailed out for 20 minutes to the open ocean. At this point I put on my flippers, balaclava type thing, gloves and snorkel and waited for the horn to sound. ''beeeeep'' I was now in the water, facing down...a mere ... read more

After leaving Dunedin another textbook long drive awaited us: we were heading to Mount Cook, the highest Mountain in Australasia. The drive was very scenic, we realised we were getting close to our destination as the greenery started making way for the Snowy White hills. We stayed in Mount Cook Village at the YHA, which looked like a huge wooden cabin from the outside. The first afternoon and night consisted of us watching films and sitting by the log fire: they had a sauna but I only lasted about 5 minutes before getting too hot, Sweaty Freddy lasted much longer trying to "sweat out all of the beer" he'd been drinking. Mount Cook was climbed by none other than Sir Edmund Hillary, the first man to climb Everest, we didn't fancy climbing the mountain and instead ... read more