From Canberra to Kaikoura: 4.2.08- 11:30pm Kaikoura

The week and a half leading up to our departure from Johns was a real whirlwind. I really felt the heat, trying to organise a place to live (with no luck), working every other day at Dash, duty tutoring for a few days for Doryan (and helping to check in a big conference), pounding out stats for my thesis, desperately trying to organise this big trip, squeezing in two more experiments at Lake Ginninderra after thinking my fieldwork was over, and packing up the entire flat and moving it to BoZo. That’s right, Seth and I moved EVERYTHING into my tiny little office at BoZo—I just hope my office-mate, Monica, doesn’t mind too much and that the department manager doesn’t notice! Luckily, most everything was able to fit into the shelves and is not extremely obvious to passers by.

My office

Late at night on Jan 31st, we finished moving nearly everything out of Johns then booked return flights and bus tickets and placed an online request to hire a car. We checked out of Johns at 8:30am on Feb 1st and nearly missed our bus to Sydney (thanks to Seth nearly forgetting his guitar!), but finally made it. It was at that point I realised we were officially homeless and on a bus heading out of town…

We spent the day in Sydney looking for hiking gear. Luckily, there are about 7 or 8 decent outdoors shops in a row. Unluckily, we did not buy what we needed online or in the US and everything costs much more than it should. We did, however, find a great pair of boots for Seth and a 38L pack for myself. We then went to Leichhardt and met up with Shelden, Carmen, and Carlos, and went out for a pizza dinner with Shelden and Carlos. It felt good to be able to relax for a little while, even though Seth and I were extremely tired from lack of sleep and stress.

Carmen and Carlos

The next morning (Feb 2nd) was our flight, and Seth woke up at 4am for his daily run, though somewhat abbreviated. A bus, train, plane, and shuttle later, we made it to Christchurch, NZ. This is the largest city in the South Island (pop. 350,000, about the size of Canberra) and looks more like England than the most English city. We had a brief tour of the town centre and headed over to a youth hostel I found online. It stood out because it was once a prison and operated from the mid 1800s until 1999. Since it is relatively old it is a heritage building and has to be somewhat preserved and protected. The Jailhouse Accommodation had a great atmosphere, was well run, and seemed very unique. I think Dad would really get a kick out of it!

The Jailhouse Accommodation

Seth and I spent the afternoon walking back into town. The city centre felt disorienting, partly because the Avon River winds through it and forks in the middle, and the roads are designed around it. Christchurch is comparable to Canberra, but has a nicer feel—it seems more personable and community-oriented.

We found a super cheap mega grocery store called Pak and Save and brought back some food to cook at Jailhouse for a late dinner. We spent the rest of the evening reading up on NZ and brainstorming itinerary ideas.

On Feb 3rd we had to wait until 2pm to pick up our rental car, so we went for a nice run along the river into the city centre. I was reminded of how clean and well kept the city is and stopped to take a few pictures along the way. I really enjoy running when travelling because we can explore and cover a lot of ground in a short amount of time, but also see much more clearly than if zipping around in a car or on a bike.

After the run and a quick breakfast, we walked back to town to do the suggested walking tour in our Lonely Planet and we ended up in the Arts Centre, where there are lots of booths, arts, crafts, foods, and some performers. I really like these market/fair environments because you not only get some people-watching, but you can also get a taste of some of the local culture (and some of the local tourist-traps!).

Christchurch, New Zealand

Seth left the markets and found more outdoor supply shops, and finally found decent hiking socks for under $20. At 2pm we rushed over to pick up our car at Omega Renal Cars, only to find out they cancelled our booking. They apparently sent an email the day before (when we were on the plane from Australia and could not read it) that they did not have a car for us, after they sent a very explicit email confirming the booking. We were completely shocked! They would not have another ‘budget’ (cheap) car in for several weeks and the only other car they could offer was not available for 24 hours. The manager would not be in until the next morning and could not be contacted on the weekends, so we were out of luck (though we WILL be back, and still angry, in a few weeks before we leave NZ). We called another rental place that had low rates but they were also all out of budget cars. Enraged and feeling somewhat helpless, we walked into Avis Rental Cars to tell them our issue, even though we knew they would be way too expensive to rent from. The woman there was extremely sympathetic and graciously helped us contact other small, budget rental car places that we did not know about. One place, Better Rentals, gave us a discounted rate which was a little lower than our initial car at Omega. However, the car itself is a real beater and seems somewhat suspicious—it has markings on it that say it is a Toyota (Starlet--Carat), and the man says it is a 1999, but I’m not sure about either of those claims… I just hope it gets alright fuel economy, or at $1.70 (NZ) per litre (nearly $5 US a gallon) we will be spending a whole lot on petrol!

On the way to Kaikoura

The whole car fiasco set us back about 2 hours and we didn’t leave Christchurch until nearly 6:30pm. We headed north for Kaikoura, a city on the coast known for its stunning wildlife, including seabirds (even albatrosses!), seal colonies, whales, etc. We arrived at 9:30pm and nearly everything was closed, including backpackers. The place where we initially wanted to stay closed at 7:30pm, so we checked out a holiday park where we could pitch our tent. We were surprised to find it would cost $35 to stay in our tent but use their facilities (only $5 less than if we were to stay in a real hostel), so took our chances to try to find someplace that was cheaper and still open. Down the road was A1 Holiday Park, and they let us stay in a shed-like creation for $38 per night, if we stay for two nights. The facilities (bathrooms and kitchen) are pretty rugged, but the little shed is new and all ours.

The Shed

Busy little downtown Kaikoura

This morning (Feb 4th) was cold and drizzly. After weeks of sleep deprivation we finally got to sleep in a little. When we got up Seth took off for a run and I explored the little bustling town of Kaikoura (pop. 4000). It was packed with foreigners like myself and just buzzing, but thankfully the stores were not typical tourist yuppie shops and were pretty down-to-earth. Seth returned and we walked back into town to use the pay phone. We wanted to call a hostel in Golden Bay, Shambhala, and confirm that we could stay a few nights in exchange to work. According to its website, it boasted serving homemade muesli, holds yoga classes twice a week, and provides other attractive features. Once again we were let down. The guy there, John, gave away our jobs and we would have to find alternative accommodation. (It is probably a good thing we won’t be staying at Shambhala, Seth said John sounded a bit high when he was trying to talk to him).

In town we noticed a pub that had a sign outside that read: “Super Bowl now showing”. It took a while to click but I realised it was, at that moment, Super Bowl Sunday back in the US. We were curious and couldn’t resist poking our heads in, only to find a dozen or so people lounging around, watching the Big Game. I didn’t even know who was playing but watched about 30 seconds of game-time, which is about 30 seconds more Super Bowl than I have seen in the past 4 years. I did it for nostalgic reasons.

It continued to rain throughout the afternoon but we disregarded that and drove to the Kaikoura peninsula to watch the seal colony and perhaps spot a few interesting birds. We were not there too long and got a good, cold soaking so we retreated and called it an early day. I am pretty disappointed that we were not able to talk full advantage of this ‘wildlife mecca’, but it was good to spend a wet, chilly evening inside and writing. However, now that it is really late, I won’t have time to get any thesis work done, which was the major condition that was placed on me going on this trip! Maybe tomorrow…

Kaikoura Peninsula