Blogs from Kaiteriteri, Nelson Region, South Island, New Zealand, Oceania

During the night, the DOC campsite I'd stayed at, Puhi Puhi, just north of Kaikoura, had managed to fill to capacity. It was great to meet a few of them in the morning, with a list of countries ranging from Spain and Germany to the US. Goes to show the draw that New Zealand has on the world travel scene. The coast road from just south of Kaikoura to about 80km north of it is stunningly rugged with the road often weaving in and out of the rocky coves where sea lions are sunning on the rocks. It winds along next to the Pacific Rail Line that stretches from Christchurch all the way to Picton, often swapping sides as either the train line disappears into a tunnel or the road does. It was on this stretch, ... read more

An old workmate & good friend of mine, Katrina, comes from the top of the South Island. For the last few years she's invited me to go stay with her parents, but I've never been able to due to work. Until now. Yay for choose-your-own-hours jobs. On the 30th we drove from Christchurch to Kaiteriteri, via the Lewis Pass. It was a fairly uneventful drive, stopping for lunch at Springs Junction & a toilet break in good ol' Murchison. Katrina's parents live in Tapu Bay, which is just before Kaiteriteri itself. The downstairs part of their house is a rental tourist flat, so after the first night we moved in there. On the first full day, Katrina's Dad took us all out on his boat, to Fisherman's Island. There were quite a few families picnicking on ... read more

Well New Years Eve was a blast but bloody freezing. The trance party was on top of a bloody big hill which was submerged in a rain cloud for nearly 3 days. It also started out as a disaster as I never properly undersood the Alcohol free law. Obviously I thought it meant you can't take your own so I thought bugger it its NYE and I'll buy it in there. But no I was wrong, Alcohol free literally means alcohol free. It took a long time for it to register. So abviously a plan was needed. We drove for 2 hours to buy some booze as we were in the middle of nowhere. I was happy as I got the last bottle of Vodka, some beers, wine and champagne. We hid it wellin the tent ... read more

It is Christmas eve! I have never felt so un-Christmassy in my life. It is really warm and sunny (2 days of good weather in a row!) and I am at the beach. We have booked into a posh (by our standards) place for next 3 days over Christmas. We can see the beach from our window! Kaiteriteri (where we are) is really lovely and has clear blue water and golden sand. It is a big bay so the water is very calm and safe to swim in. We have already been in the sea! We stopped off at The Warehouse (where everybody gets a bargain!) on the way to get some big inflatable rubber rings so we spent a nice while bobbing about in the sea. Jealous? On the way to Kaiteriteri we stopped at ... read more