Day 5 was a travel day. A means to an end if you will, but the best part about New Zealand is that even travel days bring you views and experiences you hadn't planned on. The map below is backwards, we actually drove south from Blenheim to Little River.
We woke up on "Death Mountain" (the name I gave to our AirBnb with excellent views but terrible mountain driveway) and took off pretty shortly thereafter. We made our way to Blenheim, which we'd visited the night before for dinner. Blenheim is a big stopping point for other backpackers, tourists, campers and hikers, so we grabbed a quick breakfast and took off for Kaikoura.
Kaikoura is an hour and a half away from Blenheim, and 3 hours away from our destination outside of Christchurch, so it was a good stopping point for lunch.
Kaikoura is known for their marine life, and Foder's claims that sperm whales come closer to shore in Kaikoura than anywhere else in the world. Even after reading a few things about the town and the coast we were yet again blown away once we actually saw the ocean. 30 minutes before we were looking at hills with sheep and wineries and then we were looking at the ocean and pulled off a few times to watch the sea lions.
See that big fat guy? Don't worry, he's just napping.
We got into town just in time for lunch and went to a seafood shack right on their main drag, off the beach called Cooper's.
Caitlin and I shared the fish and chips (Groper) and got a side of squid rings. The fish was fantasctic.
After lunch we went to a lookout point, and also to walk along a part of the coast that's popular for seal colonies. I realize I keep saying this, but Kaikoura was the most picture perfect place either one of us has ever seen. There was the ocean with the clearest and bluest water imaginable, and the weather was probably 70 degrees with snow covered mountains in the background. Caitlin said out of all the places, she'd want to live there. We'll see if that stands at the end.
See the very tip top of those massive mountains in the background?
We finally got out of Kaikoura a bit later than we intended and headed toward Christchurch. To get to this part of the country we drive through the Marlborough and Canterbury region. The books don't really talk about this part of the country as much for a couple of reasons: 1. The main city of Christchurch was beat up pretty bad by some earthquakes 5-6 years ago, 2. The area would be breathtaking in another country of the world but when you are competing against the other regions New Zealand has to offer, the grape fields aren't really cutting it, 3. By this point we had been in the car for a while and "outside" of Christchurch ended up being 45 minutes, but we eventually made it to our next AirBnb outside a small town called Little River.
Once again, we drove on gravel up a windy mountain road. When we pulled off, we were deep in the woods and quickly greeted by our host, Sandra, her two little daughters, their clucks (chickens), and their baby lamb who they named Wolke ("cloud" in German). Unfortunately for little Wolke we thought Sandra had said Vodka so we were petting her and calling her Vodka for the rest of the day.
Trying to move little Vodka off the driveway.
The actual AirBnb itself is pretty incredible and the best AirBnb experience that I've ever had. Sandra and her husband have built a little cabin right on a mountain stream. The bed looks directly out at the water, and has it's own kitchenette, bathroom, and wireless so we can post this blog in comfort and not in a BK or McDonalds.
I'll need to keep an eye on Caitlin, that she doesn't try to kidnap Vodka.
We ended yesterday by driving up the hill to the Hilltop Tavern suggested to us by Sandra. Below is just an example of what driving a few kilometers to the bar can look like in New Zealand.
The place was fantastic. It was packed with a party when we got there but sat down at a table that overlooked a valley, and most importantly after a long travel day, they had great beer.
It was an amazing way to end the day. Even the "boring" travel days are great.