NZ Day 10 – Half-Nelson then Kaikoura

We left the Richmond campsite and went back to Nelson to try and meet Kerry’s old friend, Christine. We’d been told that she started work at midday so tried looking for a laundrette. I wasn’t able to get my undies washed but we were lucky with the old friend reunion. Both ladies were chuffed to see each other again and will hopefully keep in contact.

We’ve been putting off the sky dive for awhile now but today we wanted to get down to Kaikoura, home of the whales as soon as possible which was on the other side of the South Island. We drove on the same twisty roads to Picton through the vineyards and through Blenheim. With the Marlborough Sounds behind us the roads got more remote, twisty and very windy. The coastal road was beautiful to see and saw a sign warning us of seals. Normally we’d dismiss this as the rare encounter but there they were sunbathing on the rocks next to the highway. The views just got grander as to the west of Kaikoura huge mountains showed off their snow topped caps.

We arrived at the Whale Watch HQ and booked ourselves for the 7:15am boat the next day but were doubtful it would happen. Next we considered getting a room instead of braving another cold night and found the Waterfront Apartments. At last my undies could be cleansed using their washing machine/dryer plus the apartment had Sky TV and, most importantly, it had heat as a few traces of snow were witnessed earlier.