East Coast

We had a great stay but we had to be moving on.  Less than two weeks left, and still lots to see.  Our hosts did help solve the mystery of the radio!  I was confused why we could rarely find a radio station while driving, even in major cities.  Turns out because our car is a Japanese import it doesn't have the right frequencies... we only get 76.0-89.9FM, where most stations here are in the 90s or above.  Mystery solved!

Chris saying goodbye to Toby.

Beautiful day for a drive.

We drove up the east coast, and stopped at a few beaches.

Not sure why I keep collecting rocks.  I usually look at them a day or two later and wonder what I thought was so special...

Beautiful, sunny day, but the water was still not quite warm enough for a swim.

Another beach, just south of Kaikoura.

There were three tunnels and two caves in this rock.  They say this is where the mountains meet the sea, and they mean it! 

Chris explored the caves.

They go pretty far!

I stayed behind and made friends with the biggest bee I've ever seen.

Beautiful coast.

Town of Kaikoura.

Thai for lunch.  We always complain the food here is expensive, but this was a great deal.  So delicious for only $10.  Which is about $8 CDN, taxes in, so about $7 on the menu at home.  I think we'll be doing lunch specials more often.

Treehouse hotel.

Ohau Point Seal Colony... the young ones follow the stream to this waterfall.  Sometimes there are as many as 200 seals in this pool, but today we saw about 10.  (That's them swimming.)

They were having fun swimming and jumping.  I didn't realize how fast and agile they were.

Seal pup playing alone.

More ocean views.

Ward Beach.

Chris ponders... It's the last beach of the day... will he swim?

I collected more rocks. 

When we first arrived in the South Island, the hostess at our hostel in Picton told me about this beach, and said I wouldn't be able to resist taking some rocks home with me.  I had forgotten she said this until arriving at that same hostel today. Sure enough, I couldn't resist... 

A valiant attempt, but too cold.

Can you find the baby bird?

Today was a bad day for me and birds.  First I hit a magpie in the car.  (It wasn't my fault... I think he was suicidal.)  And then while walking along the beach I scared this little guy from his nest and he went scampering along the rocks.  The mommy and daddy bird came back and couldn't find him.  I didn't know how to guide the parents to the baby.  I thought I might try to scare the baby back towards the nest, but he was too tiny and too well camouflaged, and I lost him among the rocks.  Sad.  I hope they find each other. 

This crazy windstorm started as we headed back. It pelted us with sand so hard it stung!  We were pretty deshelevelled when we arrived back at the car.

Atlantis Backpackers.

Castle Hill

This little lamb was only a couple days old.  I was surprised how quickly they are up and running around.  I was also surprised that she wasn't as soft as she looks.  Her tight little curls were rough!

Finally getting up close with some sheep.

Laundry day.

We painted a beehive and this gate.

Chris explored the treehouse.  This is a walnut tree.... I wish our walnuts would hurry up and get this big!

In the afternoon we explored the area.  This is Ashley Gorge.

Chris is determined to swim somewhere, but this was too shallow.

I tried to get some sun, but the have an equivalent to our black fly, called a sand fly.  Annoying little things.

So we kept driving and found another gorge... Waimakariri Gorge.   (That's the single lane bridge we crossed to get here.)

Chris got his swim trunks up and everything, but in the end he determines it's too cold.

We still have a few hours of daylight, so we keep driving towards the mountains.

Saw this crack in the hill, and wondered if it was caused by last year's earthquake.

Castle Hill, as seen from the highway.

The pathway to the rocks.

Castle Hill.  I think Chris is in this photo somewhere...

Some rock climbers taking a break.

Almost to the top!

Elk?  Wasn't expecting to see this on the way home.  They looked quite magestic in the sunset.

Fact:  NZ only has one native mammal, the bat.  All others were introduced.  Any deer or elk you see are in a paddock, just like the sheep or cows.  They seem so wild... doesn't seem right to have them on a farm.