Kaikoura –
I woke up to spend the early morning silence in the darkness of Cathedral Square in Christchurch, before catching the bus super-early to head north to Kaikoura. The Cathedral is lit up so beautifully – fostering a special chance to enjoy being solo in the square without the crazy cris-cross of people during the height of daytime.
The drive to Kaikoura was mostly along the coast line. From 45-minutes out, we could see the peninsula that we would call ‘home’ for the night... where fur seals colonize and sperm whales cruise around not too far offshore!
De, Mags, Lucy (my Irish friends) and I chose to pile ourselves into our 4-bed dorm at Dusky Lodge together. Too much fun already! …and as luck would have it, I had even more excitement awaiting me at the reception desk, where I met Jalvo, a new Brazilian friend. He and I happened to have been on the same bus from Christchurch all morning, but didn’t meet until this time. We decided to discover what there is to do in Kaikoura other than whale watching… we tried giant crayfish for lunch with our friend Kelly, walked along the big black & white rock beach lining the waterfront, and took to the hot tub with a group of our friends at the lodge just after sunset. Oddly enough this lodge has a Thai restaurant tucked into a covered area out back, so most of us brought take-away tubs up to the main kitchen for dinner. Most of us left the lodge just before 10pm to venture to the Strawberry Bar (Irish Pub) for the All Blacks rugby game v. the Wallabies (New Zealand v. Australia – need I say more?)… oh, craziness! I love New Zealand rugby!
I woke up to spend the early morning silence in the darkness of Cathedral Square in Christchurch, before catching the bus super-early to head north to Kaikoura. The Cathedral is lit up so beautifully – fostering a special chance to enjoy being solo in the square without the crazy cris-cross of people during the height of daytime.
The drive to Kaikoura was mostly along the coast line. From 45-minutes out, we could see the peninsula that we would call ‘home’ for the night... where fur seals colonize and sperm whales cruise around not too far offshore!
De, Mags, Lucy (my Irish friends) and I chose to pile ourselves into our 4-bed dorm at Dusky Lodge together. Too much fun already! …and as luck would have it, I had even more excitement awaiting me at the reception desk, where I met Jalvo, a new Brazilian friend. He and I happened to have been on the same bus from Christchurch all morning, but didn’t meet until this time. We decided to discover what there is to do in Kaikoura other than whale watching… we tried giant crayfish for lunch with our friend Kelly, walked along the big black & white rock beach lining the waterfront, and took to the hot tub with a group of our friends at the lodge just after sunset. Oddly enough this lodge has a Thai restaurant tucked into a covered area out back, so most of us brought take-away tubs up to the main kitchen for dinner. Most of us left the lodge just before 10pm to venture to the Strawberry Bar (Irish Pub) for the All Blacks rugby game v. the Wallabies (New Zealand v. Australia – need I say more?)… oh, craziness! I love New Zealand rugby!
No comments:
Post a Comment