After our little chat Jordan and I headed out to the Otago peninsula where we heard there were albatross (in my mind, essentIially just giant seagulls). We went to the centre where they were asking $80 a person to go view these damn glorified seagulls...we said hells no to that and continued trekking on. We then decided to spend the night just outside of a town called Oamaru. We found a picnic area on the beach and hid the van away behind some bushes. The wind was insane though so we ended up cooking in our van. On the drive up the coast the next am we noticed that all the trees and bushes looked like they were frozen in place when a big gust of wind came along. We later found out that its bc this side of the coast is in, what they call, the 'Roaring 40's', the latitudes between 40 and 50 degrees south which are renowned for their gale-force winds....the trees actually are permanently wind blown!
We then drove to Akaroa which is a couple hours drive east of Christchurch-located on a beauty peninsula. We ended up at a camper van site and did some much needed laundry! The next day we walked around the little town and had some coffee at a little shop right near the water. It was a cute French town with a relaxed feel.
That morning we continued up through to Waimate where I had read that at some point every December there was a strawberry festival that the town was 'famous for'. We decided to try our luck because it was a Saturday and whaddya know, it was on! We roamed around for a couple of hours looking at all the crafty stalls and decided on getting a couple of ice cream sundays with fresh strawberries. Surprisingly there were only maybe three stalls out of one hundred that were actually selling strawberries and the prices were outrageous (most fruit is here). We decided against purchasing any as a small box of strawberries was$9.00...for maybe 9 strawberries....crazy! I bought a little owl necklace and Jordan and I both bought a string bracelet (we are buying one from every country).
After Waimate we continued north to Kaikoura. When we first got to Kaikoura we did a little window shopping where I actually found these beautiful winter knitted mitts and a headband. (Note: Jordan and i ended up sending a package home with all our warm gear including jeans and sweaters...not going to need them in Asia...so that means that these are not to be worn....ok ma, char and Rah's???). Then we had a little coffee and decided to go check out the seals at the point. We hiked up the little mountain for a better view of the ocean and seals...man were there a lot of them, just baking in the sun! We stopped at a little seafood hut on the side of the road and tried some green-shelled mussels (delish but they're no pei mussels that's for sure!) and some scallops. Jordan enjoyed both which put a smile on my face-he originally didn't like seafood at all but having been in my family for 8+ years (mega seafood lovers) he's acquiring more of a taste for it!
We had originally planned to spend the night in Kaikora at a free campsite (aka the side of the road hidden by bushes) but decided that we enjoyed enough time in this town. We stopped at Oahu waterfall where we encountered an adorable seal pup just basking in the sun. We were able to get within two feet of him-very cool! On the ocean side (across from the parking lot we saw tonnes of adult seals...massive they were!) I took 50 plus pictures and we were back on the road.
As Jordan was driving I opened the map and noticed we were only 250 Km's or so from Nelson (aka the river bath campsite that we absolutely LOVED at the beginning of our tour of the South Island). We decided to drive up to Blenheim and stay for the night and do the remaining 150kms in the morning. Well we got to Blenheim and said scratch that, and decided we wanted to spend the night at the 'River Bath'..we arrived just before 9pm when the sun was still up! We had forgotten about the insane bugs and immediately started getting bit again. We were still recovering from our last bites here and so Jordan took a quick dip in the river and then we retreated to the van.
We ended up staying at "the river bath campsite" for 3 nights and 3 days....totally relaxing and lots of fun! We did a little laundry in the river and swam and read during the days. There was even a rock ledge that you could jump off into the water. At one point Jordan pointed out an eel and I had a little freak out and made him jump in and scare it away. I ended up seeing it right under my feet a few minutes later when I was snorkelling (we brought our snorkelling gear) and was out of that water in a freaking jiffy.
That afternoon we decided to hunt down a DOC (department of conservation) campsite- this one only cost us $10! From the campsite there were hikes you could do. One of them led you to a beautiful gorge with the bluest water! If you know me, you know I love water and so I headed down to feel the temperature. It was pretty cold. But, I was determined to take the 100 foot ride down the rushing current to the 'beach'. Jordan thought I was completely out of my mind but after a little ( a lot) of persuasion, I got him to jump in with me. Let me tell you...it was fa-reezing!!! I felt like we were doing the polar bear dip! At the same time though, our adrenaline was just pumping because we are rushing down the gorge with the current, so while my brain and body recognized it was frigid, I was not (as) focused on that. What a rush...amazing, and best part....free! We roasted some "processed meat" (hawt dawgs) over the fire, played some cards and headed to bed.
The next day we took off south to Hanmer Springs-a little town that's only a couple hundred Km's north west of Christchurch. We went to the outdoor springs which consisted of 10+ pools all ranging from 28-42 degrees. They also had three water slides which we made great use of! I tried to convince Jordan to keep going down them with me but he had hot thermal sulphur water on the brain! That night we spent our LAST night in the campervan at a little free campsite called Balmoral. That morning we packed up all our gear and cleaned out the van and drove into Christchurch.
Driving into Christchurch was not what we had expected at all! As I'm sure most of you know, shortly after Christmas (I believe February) of 2010, the city got hit with a 7.2 earthquake that completely destroyed the town and killed 158 people. The number of after shocks that have occurred since was over 17,000! (Keep in mind these are very little...most of which you can't actually feel). We had heard there was still destruction in the city but when we drove into the town, it looked like it had happened the day before! The destruction was incredible and we both felt this feeling as though we were in some war zone. The CBD was completely ruined with abandoned and demolished (purely from the earthquake) buildings and roads. There were fences up everywhere and so many streets completely shut off to the public as there was so much rubble. It was absolutely devastating to see...people lives, homes, business and their beloved city completely torn out from underneath them. Needless to say, we walked around christchurch taking pictures of some of the destruction. We ended up booking a room at one of the few hostels that are left in the city. We ended up getting our own room as this hostel didn't have any mixed or woman's dorms (just men's and private rooms). That afternoon I face timed char for three hours while Jordan returned the van (yes, it took him three hours because he got lost....multiple times. It takes a woman to deal with directions evidently. :)
That night we watched The Hobbit in theatres (we had to watch it while we were in NZ!). It was actually really cool to watch it and recognize parts of NZ that were in the film...good movie-recommended if you are a LOTR's fan. The next day we walked around Christchurch (not all that much to see anymore...and by that much I mean basically nothing). I had researched the town a little and lonely planet had revised their chapter on the city after the earthquake (because most businesses,restaurants, hotels they had written about weren't there anymore). They wrote about an old fridge that was on the corner of Kilmore and Barbadoes Street that was filled with used books! We headed there and exchanged some of our books for new (old) ones! Great idea! We then went out to lunch had a couple of beers, and headed back to the hostel for the night.
The next am we had to be at the airport for 9 as we were flying to Auckland at 1030. It was a quick 1 hour flight and once we arrived we went back to the first hostel we stayed in when we first arrived a month ago, Queen Street Backpackers. Massive hostel. I'm not entirely sure how many people it could sleep but I'm willing to bet it was around 300+... The building almost took up an entire block! We slept that night with 6 others in the room and needless to say, didn't get a whole lot of sleep. I ended waking up just after 5 am because the girl above me was hopping around on her squeaky bed getting changed and fiddling with her bags since she had an early flight. Restless and unable to sleep anymore, I had a shower and spent the am watching a Christmas movie in the lobby. As I'm writing this I'm actually on the plane to Singapore and surprisingly not that tired (although I just took my second round of gravol so ill be out like a light in about 30 min). We are flying with Jet Star, the cheapest airline around with the squishiest seats and nothing complimentary...even though its an 11 hour flight. Once we boarded the plane they told us that the baggage count was wrong and it had to be fixed before we left. We ended up sitting on the Tarmac for TWO hours. As we speak, we've been flying for six hours but have been on the plane for over 8. Only five more to go! Jordan and i have already purchased and watched two movies and have had a $15 dinner (per meal) consisting of lamb and potatoes for me and chicken and rice for Jordan. We land in Singapore around 6:30pm (their time) and will be heading to our hostel where we will spend the next 4 days.
Well, I'm feeling the gravol start to kick in so i'll sign off here before I start writing stuff that makes no sense at all!
Till next time xx
Great post Kirstie! That's terrible about Christchurch... I remember it as such a postcard pretty little "English" town in NZ. Every lawn and house was a great shot... terrible.
ReplyDeleteI had to laugh when I heard you were headed back to the River spot... my first thought was they must have forgotten about the bugs! You stayed there for another 3 days so I guess you figured them out. Glad to hear you liked the Hobbit.. been waiting so I can watch it with Shawn/Rachel.
We never flew JetStar.... if you get a chance try Malaysian Airlines... they had the best prices we found and the service/food were among the best I've ever experienced. Not sure if they went into NZ though...
You'll find Air Asia is great around SE Asia. Where are you guys going to be on Christmas? Love to see some pictures if you ever get any bandwidth (or the ability to upload from your iPad. Shawn (after almost 4 years) finally destroyed his old iPad but Rachel loves to do Facetime from hers. We'd love to chat when you get a chance. Love Dad and the gang.