Alpine View Motel Kaikoura

... km to the hut with 80-90 river crossings (kiwi style, up to the knee). The sky is grey and threatening, the feet swimming and here I am instread of being among the legendary glaciers of Mt Cook. This one definitely qualifies as a rough route, and this day feels aloke for me, especially when I realize that I do not have my gas stove. I will eat cold for the next 2 days as I am the only one around. No tea either ( I start enjoying this tradition a lot ...

... in Kaikoura gekriegt, in einem Farm Park, da gibt es verschiedene Tiere zum anschauen und Llama Trekking und so. Schade dass wir schon was haben, das haett mir auch total gut gefallen.

After we had no success with searching for a job in Blenheim we have finally been lucky and got a job at a hostel in Kaikoura. Today was our first working day ad we are really satisfied ...

... of the cancelled whale watching.
Next stop was in Blenheim, one the the big wine producing areas of New Zealand. We popped into the Cloudy Bay vineyard for a tasting session, luckily Jason was driving by this point so whilst he had to spit his out I didnt ;-). We bought a bottle of trusted sauvignon blanc for consumption on our last night and completed our drive to Picton where we were due to get the ferry the next night up to the north island.

Ever since we gave the Irishman, Pat, a
ride from Tongariro to Taupo and we heard him describe his “best
day in NZ” of fishing with a local in Kaikoura, we knew we had to
do it! Not that we're fishing enthusiasts...just adventurists. The
only information from Pat we had to go on was a boat named “Sophie
Rose.”

Lu ckily, the i-Site had a pamphlet with
a picture of the Sophie Rose, a modest sized ...

... on both fuel and Coke Zero & Water, the things that can keep me & my car going anywhere! Stopped up in Blenheim to check out the map given to me by Alex & Sue and sort out if I could make it to Kaikoura or not, and it seemed it was not far away, a conclusion that proved correct. So with that, headed out of town again, heading now towards the coast road that Ive always really wanted to drive. Went out towards Seddon where I stopped ...

... his stomach! This was very out of the ordinary though. On the way back to shore, we also spotted a colony of New Zealand fur seals & a few different types of albatross too.

We spent the next few days driving from Blenheim to Takaka & around Abel Tasman National Park, but the weather was so awful, we really didn't see or do that much. After a couple of days, we took the ferry from Picton across to Wellington on the North Island ...

... minus the vomiting part of course...) I'm really happy. I get back to th ehostel and meet up with Jackie who shows me her fishing feast: cray fish, cat fish... which we will have for my b'day dinner (I have to admit that the idea of eating fish after my vomiting session was not high on my list but by the time we ate I was fine and it was lovely!). They even get me a chocolate cake for pudding and manage to find an incense stick as a candle substitute! how ...

... de perdre connaissance. Dans l'eau c'est pas une bonne chose... Il est tout blanc et peut à peine respirer. Et finalement il se traîne aux toilettes et va redonner tout son déjeuner. Je me dis que les prochains trois jours vont être intéressants. La théorie, on en parle même pas, les deux doigts dans le nez. J'aide mes confrères qui ont de la difficulté a faire 2 X 2. Ils rigolent un peu moins maintenant.. Eh eh! Et ...

Got up at 5.30am to go Dolphin watching, and the buggers got stage fright. Not one turned up. There were supposed to be some killer wales swimming near by, so what, after getting up at 5.30 in the morning I'll go swimming with them, after all New Zealand is supposed to be land of thrill seeking.