change of plans

The last time I posted, I was going to go the Golden Bay, on the NW tip of the South Island. Then it started pouring and it was going to do that on the west coast for three days. So I made a run for the east coast. As soon as I got through the mountain range, blue skies. The mountains in the South Island holds off storms rolling in off the Tasman Sea really well, most of the time.

Kaikoura

A small beach town with what was supposed to be NZ's longest right hand break. It's also famous for the sea life because it goes from 8,000ft+ mountains to ocean in less than 15 miles and once it hits the water, after a couple hundred yards off shore, it drops off hundreds of feet really fast. Combine that with this being the place where the cold water of the south to meet the hot water of the north and you have what they call a large "feeding zone" which means whales, sea lions, tons of fish and sharks. I only saw sea lions though.

And picture time...

mangamanu beach - that's the big right handed break that never showed up

sunrise over somebody's house i parked in front of to sleep for the night

sunrise in town at a cafe on the beach

sea lion. fur sea lion to be exact. they just laid there all day. the only time i saw one move was when i was walking on the beach and didn't see one sleeping until i was 3 ft away and it barked and snapped at me. fun times.

suntanning

no surf and tons of sun. i went for a walk around the pennisula on the south side of town. it was amazing.

sunset at the beach freedom camping with the Marcus and Brita (see notes below).

1 UP

Mt Fyffe hike

the best of the view

Here are the stories from Kaikoura:

1. The first night in town, a Friday, I went to bar to watch some rugby and meet some folks. I ended up talking with a German couple for 3-4 hours. The highlight of our conversation was them asking me why the best U.S. basketball players don't play in the World Championships and instead we send college kids over. I tried to give the polite answer of, World Champships for basketball isn't a big deal to us because all the best players play in the NBA. They were severely disappointed with this and didn't understand. Fun times.
2. The second night in Kaikoura, i stayed at a beach north of town that had a bunch of people camping out there and it was completely free. It was an awesome location. I ended up parking next to Marcus and Brita. Marcus is from Colorado. Brita is from the Czech Republic. Marcus graduated from college, did some odd jobs for 2+ yrs and 6 months ago, him and 4 buddies decided to come visit NZ. They bought a van. I said a, that was singular and the van is smaller than mine. That's 5 guys total in one van plus climbing gear (ropes, crampons, ice axes, harnesses, etc) and surf gear (boards and wetsuits). 3 slept on the bed and 2 slept under. Since then, all the other guys left for jobs back home and Marcus has kept going and picked up a friend. Brita's not much of story, she quit her job as a buyer for an apparel company because they wouldn't let her take a year off to travel. Back to Marcus...
1. He prefers to climb/hike either naked or in just his underwear because he generates so much heat when he climbs.
2. He picks grass off the beach to make a salad every night.
3. A local told him about Hua (or Moa or something) which is a shellfish found off the cliffs in Kaikoura. They're big suckers - the shell is much bigger than a softball. Apparently, these things go for $150-$200 in Japan. Anyway, he puts on a snorkel, jumps in the water, swims around in this area where waves are breaking on these cliffs, dives down 20 feet or so through seaweed beds and pry's them off the rocks with his Crocodile Dundee knife. Then he pan fries them to go with his beach salad.
4. Marcus is teaching Brita that she doesn't need to shower that often.
5. Marcus was the best conversation I'd had my entire time in NZ.
3. Just about every town in NZ has a visitor center with staff and they have all kinds of info on stuff to do in the area. Typically the staff are older woman. Either these woman are extremely fit or they all have fish stories about the local hikes because what they said they did in an hour, took me an hour and I was spent to get there in that amount of time. I think it's fish stories because I'm American and they're trying to get even.
4. I hike Fyffe Mountain, accidentally. I was only going to go to a hut about half way up but ended up not seeing it and not realizing it until I was 2/3 the way up. The entire hike was in a cloud, raining/misting. At one point, i could feel water running down my leg, into my sock and in my shoe and I didn't think I'd pissed myself. I was that soaking wet. Anyway, the top ended up being just over 4.5 miles, one way, and 5,300 ft. Brutal.

Christchurch

I wasn't sure what to expect given the massive earthquake that hit in February. It was insane to see the devastation that's still around. The entire downtown core, probably a 2 mile radius, is still fenced off with access points managed by the military. You would see whole churches and buildings completely leveled. Brick buildings were the worst, there were stretches of city blocks where everything was fine but you'd come across the one brick building in the whole area and it was rubble. Sorry, no pictures.

Akaroa

Its like a fancier version of the San Juan Islands, with better cafes/bars, right on the water and with warmer weather. It'd be an awesome place to hangout for a long, relaxing weekend in warm weather. I haven't been to Europe yet, but it's what I'd imagine of a little town on the coast in Italy, France or Spain.

Akaroa is the only place in the world you can consistently find the smallest ocean-bound dolphin in the wild, Hector's Dolphin. They're only about 2-3 yds long and are an endangered species, just as rare as the Giant Panda Bear. So, what do I do when I find out about this? I sign up to swim with them. The water temp was just over 50 degree F, as was the air temp. Some big swell had hit that day too so when we got out, there were times when you were at the bottom of the trough on a swell and the wave was a solid 15ft high, well over the height of the boat. We struck out with the dolphins though and never even got in the water. The company I went with doesn't bait the dolphins or anything, instead they look for a "positive response" meaning the dolphins are curious and playful. We saw two different pods but both groups didn't hang around for very long. It was still a pretty cool experience minus being in a wetsuit for 2.5hrs.

Akaroa is right on an inlet, you can see it below at the base of the hill

other side of the hill, the Pacific Ocean

we did a little off roading to get up here

Middle of nowhere

I decided to head to Arthur's Pass but ended up staying overnight just outside Sheffield at a campsite with nobody there. I have to admit, I freaked out a bit after I paid to stay because the place was a little spooky and I felt insanely lonely out there. The camp was maintained by a really nice old guy, he's an amputee on crutches and lives on the grounds in a trailer. He lost his leg to cancer 11 years ago and he's lived 10 years longer than he was supposed to. He distills his own spirits, he offered me a bottle of whiskey but I passed. I ended up getting to know him pretty well though the next morning because I locked my keys in my car. He let me borrow a knife to try to pop open a window, which broke the knife and then he called the local garage for me and they came out and opened up the car for me, free of charge. Did I say he was nice?

Arhur's Pass

It's a the main thoroughfare for folks going East-West from the middle of the South Island and it's a gorgeous place. It was a completely blue-sky day and I was lucky enough to get a hike in at the top of the pass. Avalanche Peak, 3600ft climb with 360 degree views.

1/4 way up Avalanche Peak

glacier in the distance

view from the top

more from the top

top looking back down the route

and more from the top

i know what you're thinking and no, i don't think that beard and hair could get much better

on the way back down - Devil's Punchbowl

lake on the drive back

gorge outside Methven

river through the gorge outside Methven at sunset

The van's got problems - there's a second battery that supports all the camper stuff (lights, fridge, water pump, etc) and it's dead. i'm meeting the guy tomorrow to get a replacement.

It's getting really cold at the bottom of the South Island. Today was really sunny and the temp peaked at about 65, the last couple nights it's been below 30. With that, as beautiful as the south is here, I think i'm going to pick up the pace and to get heading north as soon as possible.

That's all for now.

Whoever you are that reads this, I hope this finds you in good spirits and shoot me an email if you feel like it because it'd be good to hear from you, whoever you are.