Just another random photo from the STA photo library, but we really are back on the coast again, this time on the East Coast, in Kaikoura. Took the scenic route again this morning, and it definitely was much more scenic than yesterday, taking us up and down mountains again, round the now familiar hairpin bends. This is the first time we have arrived at any campsite in time to have lunch! It seems very nice here and we're staying for two nights before we go down to Christchurch on Sunday to return the camper van. We've already been and booked ourselveslves on a whale-watching boat trip for tomorrow morning at 7.15 am - hope we wake up in time, as we've been quite late the last couple of mornings (well, compared to the 'early' people, who set off at about 7am each day).
Part 2.
We decided to go for a walk to find the local colony of fur seals, which it said on the campsite map was about a 4 km walk away, but as it took us about an hour and a half to get there, I think it was actually quite a bit further! The timely purchase of an ice-cream cornet stopped me moaning that I thought we were going the wrong way, and suddenly we were there! There were several seals lying just a few feet away from the footpath that led to a car park, and some more resting up along the rocky shore line in the dry, sheltered areas. It was lovely to see them looking so relaxed, like big dogs stretched out on the rocks. We walked back by an alternative (scenic?) route, which took us up a steep path, over a stile and up an even steeper field, (full of very nice sheep with incredibly fluffy fleeces, who posed for photographs), over another stile and through a very upmarket residential area, down a Maori footpath called Tom's Track, and eventually, back to the coast road we had started from. Think I've got a lot more training to do before I'll be ready for the Andes! That's all for tonight, as we better get to sleep early ready for our boat trip in the morning. It's St Patrick's Day here tomorrow, but fortunately I won't have to miss out on a Guinness, as there's a bar just accross the road from the campsite, so I'll be already celebrating as the rest of you are just waking up! Slainte!