Ryan and I spent several days hanging out and walking in Kaikoura.
Kaikoura is a beautiful small town located on the coast in the shadows of the Kaikoura Seaward Range. We were fortunate to have clear weather which means we have a lot more panoramic images of oceans and mountains to share once we get our laptop back in Auckland, in January.
Some of the hikers we met on the QCT live in Kaikoura, so we spent some time with them at The Whaler while they worked and we drank local brews.
We stayed at the YHA and met some fun, young Aussie women who were spending two weeks touring around New Zealand on holiday. Ryan broke one of their minds when he graciously corrected her understanding of currency exchange rates. Basically the USD has been stronger then the AUD for some time. However this young woman thought that because it cost her more Australian money to buy food in the US, the US dollar was weaker. Knowing Ryan and how much pleasure he gets from telling people, even strangers, that they're incorrect, you can guess how that exchange unfolded.
We also visited the local seal colony and took pictures of the super cute and somewhat smelly creatures. Despite lots of signs asking people not to get too close to the pups or between them and the ocean, I saw people do exactly that.
There are a few different walks that start in town.
On some of them we were reintroduced to the element of wind in New Zealand. Wind that blows your hat off and makes people fall over. Wind that makes song birds who attempt to fly anywhere, appear launched in the direction of the wind.
On the first night of the Kaikoura Coast Track walk the wind was blowing from the northwest. It rattled old windows in the farm house we stayed in and made it sound like a horror movie. The beautiful, remote farm house by the beach looked plesant during the day then transformed into a dark, windy remote place of terror with sheep at night. At least that's what I thought of.
One of the farmers, who is retired but still pitches in at the farm, told us a story about what happened when telecommunication towers were first brought in. The local experts outlined in spec documents the towers would need to be built to withstand 300 km winds. An overseas firm won the bid and started working on the project. When it was completed and launched, the area had telecommunication services for a total of two weeks. Then service was disrupted because the wind destroyed the towers. The locals asked the firm who installed the towers if they read the requirements and built the towers to withstand 300 km winds? They had read the spec but they thought that requirement was a mistake so they ignored it.
Then the towers were rebuilt to spec and telecommunications were restored to the area.
Super windy!
We were fortunate to be walking with a great couple from Nelson and shared stories, wine and dinner with them during the two evenings of the coast track walk. They offered to drive us back to Kaikoura after the walk and took us to the waterfalls where you just stand and watch seal pups playing in a waterfall, because that's how seal pups roll in Kaikoura.
I will say Ryan and I had a lot of great conversations with David and Yvonne and like most people we've talked to from different parts of the world, one of the first things they ask us about is what the hell is up with Donald Trump and politics in America? We typically respond with laughter and then say, "What do you mean? America is the best!"
HA HA!