I left Hanmer Springs this morning and had a wonderful drive through some coastal mountains. It is truly amazing how quickly the landscape changes here! One minute you are in plains, the next at the ocean, the next there are rolling hills, and then rugged mountains. Truly spectacular!
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| View during drive from Hanmer Springs to Kaikoura |
I had a 2 hour drive from Hanmer Springs to the small coastal town of Kaikoura. It is clear that this town thrives on tourism (as Hanmer Springs does), and its focus is on sea life, specifically whale & dolphin watching. I had myself booked on a whale watching tour, and thankfully the weather cooperated with overcast skies and no rain. I've seen whales spout off the coast of CA before, but never have I been this close to a whale... actually, 4 whales! In the course of 2 hours we had 4 whale sightings. They come to the surface, oxygenate and eat the food they collected for 10 minutes, and then dive down and are gone for over 45 minutes. We were very lucky to see four as the usual is one or two! I managed to get some great pictures and even some movies!
After Kaikoura, I drove north through the Marlborough region, which starts as coastal views and then turns inland to rolling golden hills and a few vineyards. After passing through Blenheim, the terrain quickly changed to lush vegetation and mountains. Beautiful. I drove all the way to Nelson (about 4 hours from Kaikoura), grabbed dinner, and then headed on to Motueka. Nelson is a great city, but I'll tell you more about it later, as I return there in 3 days.
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| Vineyard in Blenheim |
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| From golden hills to lush green hills, all within one hour's drive |
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| One hour outside Nelson |
Motueka is about 30 minutes outside of Abel Tasman, a National Park here in New Zealand. The next two days I have lined up sea kayaking and walks in Abel Tasman ~ utilizing sea taxi to get there! I'm sure to have great pictures to share!
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