Part 52 - Kaikoura

How prophetic this sign proved to be

My next stop was Kaikoura, on the east coast of the South island. On the road down, I can't help but wish I'd booked the train, as it basically follows the coast most of the way down, although the bus had fine views as well. 

I was only in Kaikoura for a few days, but like everywhere in New Zealand, it's a lovely wee town - and this was one was very much geared for tourists. I was going to sign up for the whale-watching, but after a chap in the hostel described the three hour boat journey as a rollercoaster, I thought better of it. Dolphin swimming was another option, but it was quite expensive, you're not guaranteed to find them, and I was a wee bit worried about my glasses ending up at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean. 

My accommodation was one of the best hostels I've stayed in, which was quite lucky, because I booked it solely on its name ...

I could even see the ocean from my room (if I craned my neck a wee bit) ...

There was no shortage of nice walks to be had. I decided to go for the 11km walk round the peninsula. Me being me, I decided to just wing it and not look at a map (how hard can it be walk round a peninsula?). It started off great - I saw lots of seals and birds, and the scenery was lovely.

... and climbed a wee hill to take this video.

Things took a turn for the lost when I passed a sign saying "No more path. Watch yirsel'" ... but I could still easily walk over some large rocks to get round the next headland. I walked another mile when I heard a loud "harrumph" noise, and I turned round to find myself about 6 feet from the seal I'd nearly trodden on (the stupid bugger was hiding behind a rock). I swiftly increased the distance between us, only to find another seal right in front of me, and another one not far to the right. I was slap-bang in the middle of another seal colony. Not that they're super dangerous, but they can attack if they feel threatened (and they can hit 25km/hr on land). I pushed on, and somewhat worryingly, passed a couple of decomposing dead seals. What could be round the next corner?

Who knew seals were so good at camouflage?

Turns out, round the next corner lay a massive gull colony perched on some more rocks. Now they all looked pretty placid gulls (not like the mutants we have in Scotland), but there were thousands of them, and I've seen Hitchcock's film The Birds and know that they could turn in a moment. I'd have literally had to shoo thousands of them out the way to get round the next headland (and who knew what would await me). 

New Zealand gulls are a lot smaller than back home, but they still look they could give a good peck

So I was faced with a dilemma ... push on through the birds, swim back, climb the steep cliff to where the path actually was, or go back through the seal graveyard and colony. I plumped for the latter since the seals had treated with me casual indifference the first time round. And I managed to tip-toe back to freedom without incident.

Once I found the path I completed the rest of the walk, but learned an important lesson (read the bloody map).

The view from the correct path!

Thankfully, my next trip to the peninsula went without a hitch. While I try not to repeat activities, I really enjoy kayaking - it's a great way to see areas you wouldn't normally see, and it's quite a good workout. I'd like to take it up when I come back to Scotland, although it's not a cheap hobby and I can imagine it's not as pleasant when the weather is pish. 

Me in a (spray) skirt

Master Kayaker at work

I took my old burner phone so I could take photos (so if I dropped it in the sea it wouldn't be the end of the world). Unlike the other two trips, we didn't get fed, but we had two guides instead of one, and got to go quite far out to see, which can get quite choppy. 

If we'd kept going, we'd have reached Chile

Forming a raft

Sadly, we didn't see any whales or dolphins, but a seal did come and swim close by...

Only a short visit to Kaikoura, but it was a memorable one. Next up, Christchurch.