Since the last time I wrote, it’s definitely been smooth-sailing (at least relatively so) in the campervan. We decided to bail on the idea of folding up the bed each night and setting up the table. Now we just throw our stuff everywhere and are happy as clams!
We got a fairly early start and drove the remaining 3 hours to New Zealand’s capital city, Wellington. We managed to catch the last 30 minutes of the farmers market and bought some fruit and veggies as well as ate some Indian food from one of the vendors. Our next stop was the highly recommended City Gallery Wellington, which is the city’s modern art museum. Major flop: it was small and the art left much to be desired. Although judging by what I saw, I could probably have my own exhibit using pictures that 1st graders have drawn for me. Hmm… Next we walked up Cuba Street to check out the shops and restaurants and then headed back to our camper for a stay at a holiday park just outside of the city. Wellington was a really cool city to visit, but got a little shady at night so we were happy to call it a night a little early.
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| Wellington market |
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| Fishing boat coming in for the day |
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| I spent a brief stint as a street performer... |
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| Where are all the Utz chips bags? |
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| Cuba St. |
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| 5.12c |
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| Wellington sunset |
A 6 a.m. start awaited us on Sunday morning, as we had to be to the ferry by 7. The 3-hour ride from The North to South Island was fine, but I had to move to the center of the boat to keep from getting sick, haha. We drove off and headed straight for what was our favorite stop, Kaikoura, where we spent 2 nights. The town used to be a sleepy crayfishing village, but is now fairly big tourist attraction due to the wildlife. About 5 miles outside of town, I pulled over because I thought I saw a seal. Upon closer inspection, I saw this:
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| Add caption |
We had stumbled upon a colony of about 300 seals! The English language doesn’t provide me words to describe how awesome and cute these guys were, so I’m just going to post a ton of pictures and leave out the fact that I cried a little when I saw them:
When we got into town, we headed to an overlook that allowed you to see both sides of the Kaikoura peninsula and the gorgeous mountains in the background. We did a hike along the peninsula right around sunset and it was really beautiful. At the base of the hike was another seal colony, which was not nearly as cool as the one mentioned above. In fact, when we pulled up I thought there was a dead seal lying in the parking lot there but he was just sunbathing. Even though the signs said to stay 30-feet away, I just know in my heart that that seal wanted me to hug him so bad. It took a lot of self-control.
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| They're hard to see, but there are 2 snoozing (not dead) seals on either side of me. |
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Pied Oystercatcher
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The next morning we did a whale watch and saw 3 sperm whales, a few seals out at sea (not dead-looking in a parking lot), huge albatross, and lots of other pretty sea birds. While the whales were super extra magical, they weren’t quite as animated as the seal colony (in case your wondering, I loved the seals), but I took probably the best picture I’ve ever taken of one of the whale’s tails going underwater (*me patting my back*).
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| Using a microphone-like machine to track the whales |
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| Big Ol' Albartross (about a 6 foot wingspan) |
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We checked out a cave which was just okay, but I’m convinced a real live hobbit was our tour guide, then went out for dinner before we hit the hay. Our last day was just driving to Christchurch to return the beloved campervan (good riddance!) and catch a bus down to Dunedin, where we want to stay rooted for a few months. Sadly this means back to the real world of apartment and job hunting, but I’m excited to see what the city has in store!
P.S. I posted pics of Tongariro on my last post- check out Mt. Doom from LOTR.
Woman, that photo IS a masterpiece!
ReplyDeleteI am so happy you're documenting all this. It's been a joy to watch.
PS the seal pics + captions were genius. Loved them!