After our three days of adventures on the North Island, learning about the Maori culture at Te Puia, visiting adorable Hobbiton, and exploring the glowworm caves, we did a two drive over the highlands to Wellington to catch the ferry to the South Island. Along the way, we saw more amazing scenery.
The geology of New Zealand is a result of volcanoes, the movement of continental plates, and glaciers, with major events occuring over long periods of time but all in a fairly small area, so there are hills and ridges in odd places throughout the landscape.
On our way south, we stayed overnight at a hostel near Whakapapa, the largest ski area in New Zealand. Since January is in their summer, it was the off season and not very busy, but the mountain was still pretty spectacular.
When I was planning our itinerary for the round-the-world trip, I was disappointed that we couldn’t fit in a visit to Angkor Wat in Cambodia, but lo and behold, we found its bakery in New Zealand, and they make some pretty good pastries.
Once we reached Wellington, we turned in the rental car, spent the night in a nondescript hotel near the airport, and got a taxi to the ferry in the morning for the trip across the channel to the South Island. I love ferries!
The day was beautiful and clear and we spent some time on the top deck enjoying the view.
We tried to take a selfie, but a friendly passerby offered to take a much better photo of us.
When we got off the ferry in Picton, we transferred to the Coastal Pacific train for a scenic trip down the coast to Christchurch, with an overnight stop in Kaikoura. David was relieved to no longer be driving and concentrating on staying on the left side of the road.
One feature of this train is the open air viewing car where you can stand and jiggle around with the motion of the train while you take your photos.
Or you can get clear shots through the immaculately clean windows from the comfort of your seat. In this one, you might be able to see some black seals on the rocks if you zoom in on the left (they look like big slugs). We passed a huge colony of them sunning and swimming. Apparently that is their feeding grounds.
Kaikoura, where we hopped off the train to stay the night is advertised as a major center for marine mammals such as whales and porpoises because there is an extremely deep trench just off the coast where they feed. We didn’t go out on a whale watching boat as it was very expensive and David was suffering from a sore throat and cough at this point -- most likely picked up in Peru. On the train back from Machu Picchu, we were sitting across from a very sick guy who had just hiked the Inca trail. However, we had a beautiful day to walk on the beach and relax.
In the afternoon, we hopped back on the train for Christchurch. This is David, the sherpa, carrying all our luggage, because I was still hobbling along on a cane.
Next post - Christchurch.
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