Kaikoura break!

This weekend we took advantage of the excuse that it was my birthday to have a "final" child free break....

Kaikoura was the chosen destination - about 2 and a half hours away from Christchurch.  This weekend was also the anniversary of the first earthquake so it was good to get out of town to escape the various community activities (e.g record breaking group hug).    Kaikoura is a coastal town with a reputation for whales.    We booked 2 nights in a campsite hut which was great and hit the water...

Luckily I wasn't to fat to be allowed onto the boat - although conditions were choppy (and people were throwing up witin 5 minutes) I was happy chomping into my banana, cereal bar and chocolate much to their disgust I am sure (hey I gotta eat...).  12 miles out we got our whales - 5 of them.... They don't do jumping through hoops or ball tossing to each other.  In fact they surface for about 5 minutes every hour or so so you ahve to be quick.  you also only get to see the very top of them so appreciating their size can be difficult.  Nevertheless they are amazing creatures and seeing them is extraordinary.   As well as the whales on the trip we also had visits from dolphins and New Zealand fur seals.  Also lots of Albatross (with a massive wing span of 3-4 metres - now you can't say I don't teach you anything!)....

 

Stunning backdrop

The ring of still water left after the whale dives...

 

 

Whale watching is hungry work and so next stop was this shack on the side of the road which did the most delicious seafood on the BBQ...

 

Then on to the seal colony.... where we found just the one baby seal which we didn't spot until Nathan nearly trod on it (it was well disguised as a  rock)

Seal with whale?

Later we managed to find a more populated seal spot - very entertaining.  Some seals had found their own private swimming/rock pools - others were sun bathing....

This one didn't like the look of Nathan much....

Just past theOhau seal colony was a great little walk through the woods to a waterfall and a pool where baby seals come to practice swimming and could be left in the pool by their mothers for days on end while she goes fishing - There was just the one seal in the pool but he put on a magical show jumping about - all just nature - wow!

(pictures not very clear as it was nearly dark - can you spot him?)

 

A view for the sunset...

Ahhhh what a good birthday.....

With the weekend not over on Sunday we did a little walk to a view point - 

Nathan hydrates for the walk on L&P - New Zealand's iconic answer to cola

2.5 people made it up the hill

The view - stunning!

 

Ahhhh  - perfect break away....

Preparations

I am embracing oncoming motherhood by learning to knit... I have now successfully knitted several pairs of bootees...!!!! These ones are a particular colour that may give the gender game away so, for now, you can only see them in black and white(!!)

Saturday evening...

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tonight's twight was beautiful after a glorious day.... Nathan gets down to some serious photo mounting for our walls...

Botanic Gardens

Some black and white shots from the Botanic Gardens taken this week...

Weekend stuff

The weekend was glorious sunshine (and Monday today is bright and sunny too...).

Saturday was garage sale day for me (Nathan was at work - due to snow and catch up time) and so I poured over the newspaper classified section before heading to a few sales.   Garage sales are the new thing in Christchurch because a) everyone is leaving and b) there is no town centre to browse in... The first sale was in a pretty bad earthquake area - the roads were destroyed.  The sellers there had been bombarded with the early bargain hunters and had practically nothing left but I did manage to secure a double blow up bed for $5 (£2.50) which was on the list of "must gets" for extra guests! 
 Those people were moving to Sydney...

The next sale I was a day too early - I read the paper wrong (as did the other 4 people who arrived the same time as me...) but the guy let me into his unorganised garage and I managed to get my first piece of coloured glass from this guy for £1/$2 - a light blue tall vase.... happy with that and am now on the look out for more for a collection.  He was off to the Gold Coast - His kids couldn't surf on the beach any more so Christchurch was a bit of a drag these days.... ummmm.  At least you have a beach and the surfing will come back (the surf is out of bounds at the moment because of the sewage due to the earthquake but it is due to be cleaned up by Xmas).... I do find it interesting to hear the tales of the people who are leaving.  Some of them say they wouldn't have had the courage to do it if it wasn't for the quakes... others can't see the good that remains in the city.  I think it is people who mainly can't cope with change. 

Anyway... Sunday was a trip around the harbour day picnicking and finding some random lamas to feed!   Here are some pictures...

We tried to head home over a different mountain....errrr mistake.  The snow got deeper and deeper and then a 4WD was reversing down the mountain as it had failed to get over the top.... Poor little 660cc car had to reverse in snow down a steep mountain.  Oh an adventure - and it is always nice to appreciate being alive and not falling off the side of the mountain!!