South Island - the beginning

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Flying from Auckland to Christchurch was very much like flying from London to Edinburgh - about 10 degrees colder, and there are shops selling Scottish stuff. I walked past one on the way to the hostel. Actually, Christchurch feels English more than anything, many of the road names are named after our towns and cities, and people punt their way down the River Avon - all very reminiscent of home. I also found a grocers shop which imports food from the UK, and became ridiculously excited at the sight of Green and Black's chocolate. Penguin biscuits and Heinz baked beans. Anyway, I'm getting away from the main point, which is that, as everyone had promised me, South Island is AWESOME. And I haven't even seen half of it yet! I spent a day wandering around Christchurch, visiting it's cathedral and art gallery, walking along the river and gardens, and stopping as often as possible at cafes. I will come back through here towards the end of my circuit round the island, so I decided to move on to Kaikoura for a couple of days. Stunning is the best word to describe it I think. I could have sat on the beach looking at the view all day. I'm not sure there are many places you will see a range of snow-capped mountains so close to the ocean. Kaikoura is famous for it's sealife, so nearly everyone apart from me headed out for whale and dolphin watching - I can get seasick on a lilo so I stayed on dry land and walked to the seal colony with one of my fellow magic bus travellers. I hired a bike the next day and cycled around the coast, stopping off to eat whitebait at a roadside seafood BBQ. One of my best NZ days so far!!

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Photos

Seal colony at Kaikoura
those black dots on the rocks are the seals...

Kaikoura peninsula
view from clifftop walk near seal colony

Kaikoura Bay
I had the whole beach to myself - again :-)

Kaikoura Bay
from my cycle ride