After a very tiring day on Thursday - tramping from 10:30am - 3:20pm with only a 30 minute break, through the mountains/hills around Winuiomata - I caught the ferry down to Picton. I spent the night at a lovely hostel and then picked up a rental car on Friday morning and drove the 2 hours to Kaikoura. What an awesome drive! I was winding through the hills and thinking to myself "Ah pretty scenery - a bit different from the Wellington area - not bad." Then I came around a curve and up a little hill when *BOOM* there's the most magestic mountain I've ever seen - still snow-capped and glowing in a sunny days radiance. 'Hello Aspen' it says to me and it literally took my breath away. I was so surprised and happy to see it peeking out through the hilles. I've always felt at home in the mountains - that's why I've always seen myself living in Colorado, Wyoming, or Montana. As I drove along further the rest of the range revealed itself. I was enjoying them until they went back behind some hills. I came over a quite steep hill and there - sandwiched between to green hills *BAM* the ocean. Blue and bluey-green, smiling and sparkling. Down the hill and I can see them both - mountains and ocean - both amazingly beautiful - both nature at her finest. Which to look at? Which do I feel pulling me more? Eventually the mountains won out - but the ocean gave it a run for it's money. I still feel a sense of awe and new-ness when I look at the ocean. It's so different from anything I've ever lived by. Even in Wellington the house faces the bay - not the open ocean.
If there is such a place as heaven on earth - I have found it. 'Kaikoura, where the mountains meet the ocean.' And they do.
The scenery is beautiful in itself - but if that wasn't enough to stun my senses, it is also an amazing place to see cetaceans (whales and dolphins). Friday noon I went out on a whale watching boat and we saw an amazing number of sperm whales - usually you only see one or two, but we saw a dozen or so. The coast here always has whales and dolphins and seals. It has something to do with the southern currents and the northern currents meeting, not too far off shore, and the deepest cavern (underwater) closest to the shore. The sperm whales can dive deeper than any other whale and they feed off giant squid, until recently thought to be only a myth. The squid live down in the cavern. The sperm whale is also the largest toothed whale.
See - it was a learning experience as well!
I also took a drive through the country-side where, on a dirt road, I had to stop suddenly as I rounded a curve for a flock of sheep, 5 sheepdogs, and a man on a motorbike to clear the road. They weren't just crossing the street - they were actually running down it. He was a nice guy and I chatted with he and his wife for a bit - saw a baby lamb, only two weeks old - and a litter of kittens who were only a week old!
I went down to Christchurch - though the drive wasn't as spectacular as the one from Picton to Kaikoura.
This morning, Sunday, I went on a dolphin watching boat and there were about 50 Dusky Dolpins out. They were jumping and looking up at us and riding in front of the boat. It was SO cool! This afternoon I took a helicopter ride out and saw two more sperm whales - from the sky you can see their entire bodies, but from the boat you only see about 2/3 rds of their bodies - they dive down for 45 mins or so and are only on the surface for about 7-8 minutes. Before they dive they hunch their backs and then you see the infamous tail shot. Often they leave behind their 'footprints' a smooth circular patch of water - where the air and the water are calm for just a bit.
I have to head back up to Picton tomorrow, but I might find something to do tomorrow morning, and then take my time going back up. I catch the 9:30 pm ferry back to Wellington - get there at 12:30 am and have to drive back to where I'm staying - oh and school on Tuesday morning. I'll be really tired, but it has definitely been worth it!