Day 13

14 April 2010

Today we drove to this beautiful little township called Kaikoura which was a mere 1 hour's drive away from Hanmer's Spring. The journey was wonderfully delightful as there was not a speck of rain in the vicinity.

Nature's swan song during autumn

The journey into Kaikoura from Hanmer's was an amazing transition - we emerged from the paddocks and hills into the coastal highway. One minute it was the hilly, golden fields, and the next - rocky beaches and the great sparkling ocean!! It's really crappy when you don't have photos to show, but Kaikoura was just brilliant!

The route was flanked by green mound and railway tracks on one side, and on the other was the sea. The big, vast, endless ocean - blazing blue and shimmering endlessly, dotted with jagged black basalt-like rocks. It was that magical, a mermaid would not look out of place, if she were to bask on one of those rocks.

Kaikoura Peninsula_google

We checked into a really dodgy caravan park but the weather was so damn good it made the place looked acceptable. We launched into a series of activities involving seals - seal watching, seal teasing, seal photographing & seal kayaking.

snoozing seal

That's because the NZ fur seals are everywhere! They are all over the rocky beaches and they conglomerate around an area dubbed the Seal Colony. While they may look cute & snuggly, harmless they are not. TV tend to portray them as docile or friendly but on land, these seals are quite aggresive and very territorial.

Seal Colony

Seal waving good riddance!

I did not enjoy the Seal Kayak too much as the sea was choppy and the seals stink! Was that close away from throwing up. We wandered into a local souvenir shop and the kindly shopowner directed us to a location unbeknownst to tourists where there were "wee baby seals". Later on we found out "wee" is an NZ slang for tiny.

wee seal_curioser & curioser

water babies

There were dozens of them, frolicking around an inland waterfall, being comically clumsy on land, but really graceful in water.They were similar to puppies, very playful, but because they are not domesticated (duh), constantly wary, yet perpetually curious.

wadya staring at?

Rest assured however, there are more than just seals in Kaikoura.

Day 11 and 12

12 - 13 April 2010

These last two days of the trip were both monotonous and momentous. Therefore they shall be lumped together as one entry. The reason it was monotonous was because the rain caught up with us. The reason it was momentous was because, it rhymes with monotonous.

We left Wanaka to head towards the West Coast against the advice of everyone we cared to ask. The rains had just arrived and they told us it would be "rains unlike any we have seen before". I promptly replied "We are from Malaysia".Then I smiled a smart-arse smile.

Goodbye poplars

Few hours later, there were to be no more smiles on our faces. The weather was gloomy as! The rain droned on; there was absolutely no respite. And D had to make that detour to Jackson's Bay through Haast, which was a 2-hour journey return. There was a little ramshackle caravan selling Fish 'N' Chips which was the only attraction on the Bay.

The Cray Pot - notice the gloom

Very misleadingly, the cafe called itself "the Craypot". But they don't sell crayfish. Sorely disappointed, we ordered the only fare they serve - no prices for guessing. The food was, ordinary. It was manned, or rather, womanned by a lady who had to wait tables, make coffee, deep fry the fish & chips, make salads, make deserts & clean tables all at once. She had but one helper - a little girl of 9, who had golden, mermaid-like curls that brightened up the gray skies.

Cray Pot Caravan

The landscape along the way was so different, we could have been in another country! Spookily, it was as if we were back in Malaysia. The foliage were similar to what you would see in a tropical rainforest, thick, dense, deep & dark green. Pity we could not see far, as the landscape was shrouded in what would be a perpetual fog.

'Tourists Imprint Shore' - self declared

We passed through this eccentric beach - it looked strangely haphazard, as if there were rubbish strewn along the shore. But there was no garbage! It was merely littered with artificially arranged natural elements. Tourists decorated the shoreline with pebbles, stones, twigs & trunks that they found.

Sculptures showcased by passers-by

It was really interesting to note that the deliberate intervention by man caused the beach to look like it was full of 'litters', although there was really only shells & rocks - perfectly natural. No, it did not look dirty, just oddly artistic, bordering on messy.

Close up - 'eve & georges forever?'

Fast forward & we spent the night in Fox Glacier. No, not on the glacier itself, just the township. We intended to do the "Fox It Up" package the next day with Fox Glacier Guiding - an establishment in the township that offers glacier tours. Come the next day, the rain was still stubbornly present. There goes our dreams of ice climbing (i'm a huge fan of vertical limit). We left disappointed & with NZ$570 intact.

reminiscience of M'sia's great Iskandar falls

We did not stay long in Fox Glacier. We passed through another great glacier attraction - the Franz Josef, and did not even stop for a snap because of the rain. We headed towards Hokitika which was about 2 hours away. The streams & mountains we passed through were an exact copy of Malaysia's landscape. Lush forests, with fast-flowing rivers and boulders carpetted with velvety moss. Quite nostalgic.

Bridge over troubled waters

After lunch in Hokitika, we were a little drowsy, but we endeavoured to continue on. Soon, we came to Greymouth. Greymouth was an entirely different city to us. We were used to arriving in beautiful, quaint little towns, with pure, unspoilt, undulating landscape. Greymouth was, to me, the 'engine room' of South Isle, if you like. Truth be told, we found it just a touch too dreary & industrial.

Although it was by the Coast, this was no coastal town to me. Greymouth is synonymous with chugging trains, sombre grey railway lines & containers of charcoal. It was factory, steel and hardened workers. No more cherry tourists sites, breathtaking views nor over-friendly locals.

Greymouth Tourist Attraction - Mining Museum perhaps

One of their attractions - pretty daunting, no? We did not stop.

We left Greymouth in a jiffy, then laboured to make the crossing to the East Coast, through Lewis Pass. The better part of the day has gone and we did not want to stay the night in Reefton, the first major town on the Pass. I suggested we aim for Hanmer Springs - another 2.5 hours away. Once we passed through the mountains range dividing the South Isle, the rain miraculously stopped. It was exactly as if we drove through a diaphanous curtain of water droplets!

It was 7pm when we arrived. I was anxious to get to the Springs itself as they close at 9pm. Ignoring the freezing night, we stripped to a bare minimum then jumped into the pools. It was painfully hot because of the temperature difference. Gradually our bodies adjust and it was heavenly!

Hanmer in Winter - image courtesy of google

Hanmer in Summer - image courtesy of google

Yes, the Hanmer in brochures are picture perfect. You can bathe amidst the snowflakes & frost in the winter, while admiring the heavily snow-capped mountains. By the time we jumped into the pools, it was nightfall. We missed the mountains and views, but soaking under the cloudless, starry skies was pretty amazing too. Imagine dipping in warm water, in great company, with constellations over your head! We were only missing some champers, otherwise, it would have been perfecto.