Days 18-20 Northeast Coast, South Island

The final leg of the south island, the high speed run from Dunedin to Picton, the east coast, generally flat, good Canadian style highways and not much to see in comparison to the sister coast 400km to the west. Our drive took us first to the Moreki Boulders. They are old rocks, they are spherical in shape and everybody goes to see them, we did too and this is our proof.



The city of Christchurch is nice, there were lots of gardens and it was sunny. Hard not to like a place when it is generally pleasant. That is the extent of our report on the city, we camped and it was pleasant. Andi bought a sheep skin to keep her warm for when we stay in the tent and during the day she puts it on the car seat. I am letting her drive more now so I can sit on the sheep in the passenger seat.

We left Christchurch after 2 nights and hit the road for Kaikora. Whales, seals and sea lions is what puts Kaikora on the tourist map. This is your town for seeing the large mammals of the water. We figured we could see the whales in Canada, we already swam with Moko the dolphin and the seals and sea lions were free, take a guess where we went. The seals and sea lions were tired and boring so we scoured the shoreline for shells instead. A couple of finds to smuggle home and we went back to town to hang out. Nothing much going on other than a shitty cover band bastardizing most of Bob Marleys and Led Zepplins catalog. We went to the hostel, watched Almost Famous and went to bed. Kaikora does have some very sweet murals on the side of their buildings, here are a few.






Today was a long day, up and on the road to Picton to catch the 2:25 ferry back to the North Island. A “moderate crossing” saw us listing in our seats for 3 hours. It wasn't to bad for me, I watched “Slumdog Millionaire” and Andi hung out on deck... mostly in the horizontal position.

That's it for the South Island, 20 days of discovery and we definitely feel richer for having done it. For those of you sitting at your desk reading this looking for a place to vacation next year, take this recommendation, South Island New Zealand. An island with more nature than a David Suzuki documentary, more sheep than people and enough beaches to keep you exploring till the revival of the American economy will keep you engaged at every turn of the head. This place is truly stunning but it must be experienced first hand, ask anyone who has been here and I promise you a similar response.

I will leave you with this, I like the South Island of NZ.