I’m up and out by 8am. I use one of the free
bikes to head to New World down the road, pick up some fresh bread and ham for
my day out and then head down to the beach behind the hostel as I’ve been told
there has been lots of whales and dolphins close enough to the shore the last
few days. No sightings for me unfortunately - it’s quite a dull day. I cycle
through the town to the I-site and get some info. The town is small and cute
and has a tacky feel to it, reminding me of Brighton in the UK. (Don’t get me
wrong – tacky can be awesome and Brighton rocks!)
Kaikoura, 130km south of Blenheim, enjoys a
lovely setting in the Lee of the Kaikoura Peninsula, wedged between the
mountains and the ocean. The sea bed drops away rapidly to the kilometre deep
canyon bringing lots of sea mammals to the region. The place is named in Maori
after crayfish; kai (food) koura
(crayfish). I begin my cycle along the coast so I can do the peninsula
walk. I go by Fyffe House which is made completely from whalebones and began
life as part of the original whaling station. Interesting. I get to the seal
colony and am immediately up close and personal with a shit load of seals. Man,
they are cool. Some are sleeping, some are waddling around, even in the
carpark, others are paddling. Never in my life have I seen sea mammals just
hanging out in an open place like this. It’s awesome! I get a bit too close to
one of them who must have just awoken, to get a picture, and he makes a leap
for me causing me to scream quite loudly and send some other eager tourists
into convulsions of laughter. Hahahaha, screw you tourists! Laughing at
myself also, I begin my ascent up the peninsula while listening to awful New
Zealand radio on my phone. The views are gorgeous and bring me over the grassy
cliffs to South Bay. I come across more seal colonies and rush by a bird nesting
area (where heron, shags and red-billed gulls are rife) in fear of being
attacked. (I had a near death situation in Paihia..well..sort of!) I get back
to my bike after a couple of hours and begin to cycle back. My friend Sarah
(also my personal New Zealand Isite) has told me my other friend Sarah might be
still wwoofing at the Albatross hostel so I pop by hoping to find her. As I
walk in she’s walking out! Woop. We have a coffee and catch up in the awesome
surroundings of the Albatross Hostel (defo a must stay if in Kaikoura).
I head back to my hostel, drop off my bike
and start hitching again to a waterfall 20 minutes out of town. The reason
being: BABY SEALS! I’m soon picked up by Steve, in a 30 metre long truck
carrying about 15 cars – first time for everything! He drops me right where I
need to be and I make my way up the pathway ten minutes to the Waterfall to be
greeted by CUTE OVERLOAD. Oh my God. This is amazing. There must be 100 seal
pups jumping and diving under the waterfall, prancing around the rocks and wait
for it....kissing each other. It really is beyond cute if that’s possible. The
waterfall is pretty cool as well. I hitch back and am picked up pretty soon. I
end up wedged between two men from Samoa in an old, filthy van with food and
building equipment everywhere. Their English isn’t great and as they babble
away in another language I realise the driving skills leave a lot to be
desired. I text Gini telling her to call me if I don’t text her again
in 20 minutes. As it turns out the two men were lovely, fascinated when I told
them about the seals, and dropped me right to my door. Sarah has invited me to
the pub quiz with her crew tonight but I am pretty shattered so have another
boring night in. It’s been a good day!
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