A Rest N Kai Kaikoura

... us like we were the oddity and we were-we had entered their environment and they welcomed us with much curiosity. I don’t think I will ever forget this experience-it was unbelievable and very moving. I got out of the water much sooner than Jim- I was freezing cold and the water was taking my breath away-the hot water that you can pour into your wet suit on board was the best thing I ...

... local farmer explained to us that the local sheep shearing record was something like a sheep every 37 seconds for eight hours and that local farmers only make 17 dollars a year off of the wool for each sheep. The guy seemed a bit embarrassed about the whole thing since it was just Laura and me, but his routine was spot on with all his clever jokes filling the void of sheep facts and ram feedings ...

... sets of alarms touching mud, puddles or snow to see if it is real, not that they were angry at us as everybody does it.

We got away from Blenheim and head to the Kaikoura Coast, we stop at a cafe that is where the road meets the coast recommended to us while we were on the wine tour from Picton, it was called something like "The Store", the food was good and the views spectacular. We had also been told to allow time to stop (anywhere) to ...

... pour la nage: mise en tenue de plongee, explications sur les dauphins: ils sont sauvages et donc il ne faut pas essayer de les toucher.. et le seul moyen d'attirer leur attention c'est de chanter dans son tuba!!.... le bateau nous emmene et pendant 30 minutes environs nous cherchons les dauphins... et les voila!... plus d'une centaine de dauphins au meme endroit, c'est vraiment incroyable a voir! Nous nous appretons a plonger du bateau et ca commence!!!!.... l ...

After falling for the old 'flat rear tyre' prank at 10am on April Fools day, I managed to get my own back on Paula before midday using the old 'we've won a free years supply of diesel' on a charity scratchcard. After a three hour drive down the east coast (driving distances between towns seem a lot longer in the south island), we arrived at Kaikoura, a jaw droppingly stunning costal town based on a peninsular with a backdrop of snow-capped mountains. The town ...

Our 1st trip on the Kiwi bus was really good - huge bright green bus that takes you around both of the islands! Good crowd of people and the bus driver is like a guide who will tell you about the area on the drive and help you book tours and all your hostels! Hassle free!!! The views on the drive are amazing....huge mountains, lovely scenery and so far blue skies!! Arrived in Kaikoura and checked in to Top Spot on the top of a ...

... and got a refund of $25 because of the delay at the start. Every little helps when your money is getting low so wer were delighted with that! So then we checked the oil and water (have to do that every day in case something goes wrong). All was fine so off we set to Picton - this is the main port where anyone crossing from the north island by boat arrives at. Fiona drove again because she likes driving and I like maps.

... above the waves, where they use the winds created by the waves to glide along, again reducing the effort of flapping their wings.

I guess the wake brings fish to the surface which become easy pickings.

So we ...

Na Christchurch dan nu eindelijk naar Kaikoura, mijn geplande dorpje voor niets doen en strand hangen... En toen ik aan kwam rijden, zag ik dat er van het laatste nog maar erg weinig weer terecht zou gaan komen: kiezelstrand, Damit!
Het hostel vond ik ook niet je van het, en de zon was verdwenen achter een dikke rij wolken. Aan maar 1 van deze 3 kon ik echt wat doen: op zoek gaan naar het beste hostel in de stad. Het ene hostel had een te grote slaapzaal, het andere ...

(Originally published at http://www.troysgonewalkabout.com)
< br>It was a fairly early start to put our luggage on a waiting truck, and then after breakfast boarded one of the Interislander ferries for the three and a half hour journey to the South Island. The time was well spent teaching a couple of people how to play 500, that most legendary of card games. Of particular note to the students was my comprehensive display of how not to play a hand ...