Kaikoura

Day 188 – Kaikoura, New Zealand

I woke up full of enthusiasm for my plans of the day. Well, after lingering on my morning cup of tea, that is.

The thing to do in Kaikoura is to walk on the peninsula, there is a track at the bottom of the cliff (which may depend on the tide at some points) and a track at the top. (See picture header: taken from the top of the cliff, it shows the bottom.) And in addition to wonderful landscape, you see wildlife: seals, seagulls, cormorants, variable oyster-catchers, and so on.

Of course you have to reach the peninsula, that means walking along the sea when possible (the beach is made of round stones) for quite a long stretch.

Kaikoura – Morning at the beach the next day

I was lucky with the weather, as the clouds lifted as the day advanced. So my first pictures may be cloudy, but the last ones are full of light.

When I finally reached the beginning of the walk, I took by chance the low track -I just started walking on the rocks then saw some other people and followed, seeing where that led me.

Kaikoura peninsula

I walked by a nesting ground for red-beaked seagulls (their beaks and feet are red), and by resting places for fur seals. Apparently unmated males come to rest here. The ones in the family way seek other places. Since many walker ignore the signs saying not to go play with them to get good photo shots, I empathise with the seals.

I ended up at the bottom of a trail linking both tracks, so I went up the cliff to see what was what up there. (Picture header.) I decided to stay up there to finish the loop. With the beautiful weather, it wasn’t a chore.

Kaikoura peninsula

All in all, the walk was easy, just long; apart from when one gets up or down the cliff, it was relatively smooth and flat. So I walked a lot more, but on flat ground, and it worked out very well for my knees.

For diner, I met up again with my fellow French traveller with whom I had travelled before (from Wellington to Nelson), apparently we missed each other in Queenstown though we stayed in the same hostel for two nights.

We went for fish and chips and talked and talked and it was a very nice out from travelling!

Since our buses left, in opposite directions, but at almost the same time, the next day, we met a last time.

(The next day is boring, so to resume it: bus to Picton, then ferry to Wellington; the ferry was empty, which was strange because on our way South it was full, we had to look for seating! In Wellington I stayed in the same hostel, did some laundry, and tried to get a good night’s sleep.)