Blogs from Kaikoura, South Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 45

Hey Everybody. It may seem to you that all we're doing is sitting in front of a computer adding blog entries but its raining right now so we have an excuse. Plus the computer we were on yesterday wouldn't let us upload photos and we really wanted to get a couple of photos on the site. Yesterday we drove to Kaikoura in our Spaceship. Our spaceship is called Baker. They name each one. They are actually very cool. They have a huge water container and pump and a gas grill and the bed is decently sized. Pictured is Michelle cooking some yummy supper. Kaikoura is a small oceanside town mostly driven by tourism where you can go whale watching, check out the Seal Colony, or do what did this morning; go swimming with Dusky Dolphins! The ... read more

Hi everyone, As you can see we are down at Kaikoura on the East Coast. We travelled down from Picton to Moteuka near Nelson middle of last week; it peed with rain the whole way! Great pity as we know from previous experience the views are usually quite spectacular as the road takes you up over the mountains. Can't win them all. As we got nearer to Nelson we started looking for camp sites ... we could write a book about 'camp sites we have known and loved ... or not'). I'd picked one out of the guide which looked quite promising and fortunately we decided we'd check loos, showers etc before booking in. Showers were communal, nothing unusual, we had met these before with individual cubicles. Not this time!! I strolled into the communal area ... read more

'Waitangi Day' is a day set aside by the New Zealand Government as a 'public holiday' to be observed throughout the country as a 'national day of thanksgiving in commemoration of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi’ in 1840 between Mäori and the British Crown. We silently thanked the four Labour-Ratana Maori representatives that initially proposed the holiday in 1957, and made plans for our three-day bonanza. We decided to head 150 kilometres north up the rumpled east coast to Kaikoura. Meaning “feast of crayfish”, Kaikoura is on a peninsula perched between the towering 2600 metre high seaward Kaikoura Range Mountains and the depths of the Kaikoura Canyon abyss. The Kaikoura Canyon plunges as deep as 6,705 metres beneath the sea, nurturing a prolific marine environment. It is the home of the Giant Squid ... read more

Sat.28th. Walked around the thermal park and watched the geysers bubbling away. Every so often the ground collapses and yet another geyser appears, hurriedly enclosed by fencing, until a more permanent defence is constructed. There are foot baths in the park where you can sit and paddle in the warm water,.. bliss. All too soon, it's time to catch our bus to Whakatane, and see what this part of the world has to offer. The scenery was ok, the lake impressive, and our home for the next 2 nights, LLoyd's Lodge, was very homely and comfortable. After dinner we walked by the river and around the neighbourhood, and concluded that this is yet another dead place. Where is everybody? Sun. 29th. To get to a good beach is a 3 hour walk over Koti Point hill, ... read more

I decided to spend a night in Queenstown and did a hike up to the gondola where there's a luge to have a go on and a chance to take corners on two wheels. Also no policemen around to check your speed (I recently saw 4 different cars on the same day!) The views from the top were great and I got a free ride down in the gondola (cablecar) as no one was checking tickets :-) Next day I headed off to tackle an overnight trek up the Rees-Dart track. I went up the River Dart and there was some wonderful views of the river and nearby Mount Earnslaw which I am told provided film locations for Isengard for "The Lord of the Rings." I stayed overnight in a hut and then came back the ... read more