Puketitiri to Kaikoura

Saturday 21st January

We awoke to a lovely day on the farm and after a quick breakfast, we packed the car and said our thank yous and goodbyes to Billie, Dan and the children. We had a bit of a drive ahead of us, so we were keen to get on the road bright and early. The road down from the farm made it slightly longer than it could have been anyway but once we were on the highway, we made pretty good time. Around halfway, we stopped off at the town of Palmerston North and had lunch in a café that we'd found in the Lonely Planet book. For the next leg, we were stuck with mum driving, which turned out to be a bit of an experience but we did eventually arrive in Wellington safe and sound and, typically, just as the wind and rain were coming in. We checked in to our centrally located motel, dumped our bags and then started the walk up to the summit of Mount Victoria. It wasn't too steep but Charlotte and I arrived considerably quicker than mum and dad. Had it been a clear day, the views across Wellington Harbour would have been incredible but as we stood looking out, the clouds got thicker and thicker and then the rain started. It didn't take long for the four of us to be the only idiots up there. On our way down the airport caught our eye and we stood in the rain for a few minutes watching the jumbo jets take off into the miserable weather. We trudged back down the mountain before we got too wet and took cover back in our motel to decide what to do for dinner. We figured our best bet was to wander down to Cuba Street, which is considered the heart of the city, and decide from there. It was still raining and we didn't fancy wandering aimlessly, so after a couple of runs up and down Cuba Street, we picked out a Malaysian/South Indian curry place. We were the first people in despite it being well past 7. It didn't take long for our presence to draw in the crowds though and by the time we were eating, the restaurant was well over half full. We each had a different curry with rice and a roti and were all packed full by the time we finished. After dinner, we wandered back down Cuba Street, admiring a peculiar fountain that consisted of buckets filling up with water and pouring into buckets below. Back at the motel, we played a few rounds of cards with a few beers and then went to bed, keeping our fingers crossed for an improvement in the weather.

Sunday 22nd January

We awoke to howling winds and rain falling sideways. Exactly the image that is conjured up when we think of windy Wellington. We were all in agreement that we needed to get out and about and make the most of our only day in Wellington, in spite of the atrocious weather. After finding a place to have breakfast, we dashed through the rain to the Te Papa museum, which is a free museum on all things New Zealand. Although it would have been the sensible thing, we didn't want to spend our whole day cooped up in a museum, so we only used it to pass some time for the rain to ease a bit. When it had, we walked down towards the harbour front. The rain had eased but the wind was so strong along the harbour front that we could lean into it without the worry of falling over. A well timed jump would carry you back 2 or 3 feet. We were walking in the general direction of the Wellington cable car and, after a few stops to get out of the rain blasts and to be sure we were heading in the right direction, we found it tucked down an alleyway between some shops. The cable car was a single red carriage that trundled up one of Wellington’s numerous hills and deposited us at the top, just outside the botanical gardens. If there had been one we would have enjoyed the view but instead we studied a map to see what we could do. A lady clearly thought we looked lost and came over to help is out. She pointed out a walk through the botanical gardens that would drop us at a rose garden, so we decided to go for that. The rose garden and conservatory turned out to be a 20 minute walk most of the way back down the steep hill we'd just ridden up on the cable car. We'd bought return tickets for the car but didn't fancy hiking back up the hill just to use them, so enjoyed the gardens as we made our way down. The rose garden had taken a battering from the strong winds and there were petals everywhere but it was still a pleasant piece of flat land in an otherwise hilly city. From the garden, it was a short walk further down hill, through a cemetery, to the famous beehive building and the New Zealand parliament building.  This put us back pretty central in the city and we still had a couple more stops to make. First, was for a drink. We found a bar that wasn't too busy and had a couple of beers sat outside but sheltered from the rain. Our final stop, was at the ANZAC war memorial, which was 5 minutes up the road. On the walk there, the heavens opened but we stuck with it and arrived at the memorial soaking wet. The memorial was a huge tower dominating the skyline and wouldn't have looked out of place in Eastern Europe. The area around the memorial had been developed and pedestrianised, which would have made the area a pleasant place to be, on a sunny day. By this time, we'd had enough of the weather and returned to the motel to dry off. For dinner, we wandered down to a nearby fish and chip shop that Charlotte and I had visited on one of our very brief visits to Wellington. They had stopped doing a ‘large’ since then but what we got each was still ample enough to fill us all up. Despite the weather, we'd all enjoyed Wellington but we're all pretty satisfied that we hadn't made any glaring omissions. We got to bed relatively early, as we had an early ferry to catch the next morning.

Monday 23rd January

The weather hadn't made much of an improvement by the time we awoke, so we weren't expecting to have the smoothest of rides across the unpredictable Cook Straight. By the time we'd boarded the ferry however, the wind had died significantly and the rain had stopped, so our worries were eased. We squeezed ourselves onto a half occupied table and got some breakfast in before settling down to pass the majority of the 3 and a half hour journey by playing cards. There was a few initial wobbles as we left Wellington Harbour but once were out the crossing was smooth and any threat of anymore evaporated when we entered the Marlborough Sounds. We docked on time at half 12 and hit the road down to Kaikoura. Normally, the journey would be a pleasant 2 and a half hour drive down the rugged east coast of the South Island to the small town but thanks to the strong earthquake that hit the area in November, the road had been badly damaged and had still not been repaired. This meant we had a 7 hour detour that took us inland along straight vineyard lined roads that just didn't have the same appeal as the beautiful coastal route. Keen to get there before it got really late though, we only made one significant stop in the town of Murchison which, although Mum seemed to really like, failed to leave an impression on the rest of us. We rolled in to Kaikoura around 8 o'clock. The final hour and a half had been an horrendous crawl along the inland road that had also been effected by the earthquake but had been hastily patched up in order to restore access to the town. With Kaikoura relying almost entirely on tourism for income, they'd needed to get some form of access up and running. This meant the road was open but there were maintenance zones every kilometre or so, which reduced the speed limit to 30km an hour, which made the going incredibly slow. The arrival was a relief, although we were rather peeved to find out that the supermarkets were all long closed for the evening. Charlotte and I did mange to find a corner shop for some milk but that was about it. We were all over missing dinner but Charlotte and I still ate some beans on toast, just to have something.

Tuesday 24th January

We had something booked for the morning and were trying our best to keep it a secret from Dad. This was despite Mum having already telling him that there was a surprise booked for the following morning the night before and not telling us that she'd said that. This led to a lot of unnecessary loitering around whilst waiting to leave for the 10:15 start. Even when we were walking along Kaikoura seafront, unbeknownst to us in the wrong direction, were we not told that Dad had an idea and we could cut the charade. Eventually, Charlotte gave in and rung the company and they pointed us in the right direction. Our fishing trip was departing on the opposite side of the Kaikoura peninsular and they were awaiting our arrival. We joined a group 5 Asians aboard a fairly small fishing boat and we were quickly followed by the captain. He introduced himself and his colleague and were were informed that if we didn't help them with some prep work, then we wouldn't be taking any catch away with us. As well as a bit of fishing, we (when I say we, I mean the captains colleague) were also pulling in some lobster pots in the hope of them to be chocked full of the local delicacy, Crayfish. On our way out to the pots location, we prepped a few bait pots in order for us to say that we helped with the work and would therefore be able to claim some of the catch for ourselves. The first pot came up and it only contained a few crayfish in it, which was slightly disappointing. When the second pot ascended though, it was chockablock with the spider like crustaceans and the fishermen didn't have to raise anymore. Once the catch was landed, we had to help out by holding the crayfish in order for them to be measured to see if they met the strict requirements under which they could be kept and eaten. The measurement was taken from a couple of hooks underneath their tails and if they were too small, we chucked them back in the sea, so they could grow a bit more and be caught all over again. After the measuring was complete, we had one more job, that was to cut of a small piece of their tails to say that they have been caught for personal consumption and not to be sold on. With the crayfish sorted, we steamed out across the calm blue Pacific waters to what was likely the captains favoured fishing spot and we were each give a rod and told how to use it. Dad already had a good knowledge and didn't need to be told but for the rest of us, the instructions were needed. The 4 of us were all reeling in fish after fish; even mum, who was making an absolute meal out of every task, was bringing in the Gurnard. The Asians on the other hand maybe reeled in their lines once each before giving up and succumbing to the motion of the ocean. Two of them were bent over the railings bringing up their breakfasts, while the other 3 just sat there and watched us. Unfortunately, the sound of other people throwing up made Charlotte feel a bit queasy, so she sat down, kept her eyes on the horizon and managed to keep her porridge she'd had that morning, in her stomach. Dad, mum and myself stuck with it though and spent the whole trip reeling in the gurnard that would be our lunch for the day. Whilst we were fishing, we were joined by numerous gulls looking for a bite to eat but they were soon pushed out the way by some huge seabirds that had a slight prehistoric look to them. Convinced they were albatross, we all got slightly excited but we're all brought back down to earth when the skipper told us they were just a mollyhawk. They were still well built birds and made the gulls look tiny in comparison. When we had a fish to chuck back as it didn't meet the size regulations, the mollyhawks were in in a flash and gulped it down in one. Once our 2 hours were up, we reeled in for the final time and crusied back in to port, making a slight detour to look at a seal along the way. When we got off and were given our catch, the skipper gave us a card of a restaurant and told us that, if we didn't have the facilities, they would prepare and cook our catch for us.

We deliberated on our way back to the car and decided that that would be our best option, so we drove back in to town, parked up and awaited our spoils. Unfortunately, the restaurant turned out to be Chinese (not that I've got a problem with the ethnicity but our crayfish and gurnard cooked without all the batter, sauces and noodles would have been much better) but we didn't have many other options. We received numerous dishes of varying flavours but the couple that stuck out were the boiled crayfish and the fried gurnard. We had no idea how much this would be costing us, so we tried our best to eat every little morsel we could get at. While we were digesting, Charlotte looked the restaurant up on trip advisor and we were slightly alarmed to find that it was ranked 23 of 23 in Kaikoura. Normally, we would avoid such a low scorer and research before we jumped in but as I mentioned, our choices were incredibly limited. The price we paid was probably slightly steep but it was cooked better than we could have managed in our tiny motel kitchen. We attempted to walk off lunch as we headed out to the peninsular but didn't hang around long, as the seal colonel turned out to be elusive, so we called it a day and headed back to the room, picking some beers up along the way and playing gin rummy for most of the evening. We deemed this our last good opportunity to feel an earthquake (or for mum and dad to feel one) and despite the national earthquake website saying there were a few rumbles nearby, we never felt anything. We'd been happy to relax in Kaikoura, as there isn't a whole lot to see and were focuses on just the fishing trip. With some long trips upcoming, we were also preparing ourselves for some long hours in the car.

James and Charlotte