We are Back on the East Coast

After a nice night in the little town of Hanmer Springs, we were on the road before 10.00 am for a relatively short drive to Kaikoura on the east coast. Google Maps told us that today’s trip would be less than two hours so we didn’t rush and instead, built in some detours.

For the first few kilometres we continued down the same river valley that we had been following yesterday. It is obviously a good area for making hay as we could see lots of round bales stacked along the fence lines.

I understand that cows and sheep actually prefer eating hay from the old style rectangular hay bales as that way, they get a square meal!

We travelled south, down to Culverden where we stopped for coffee. This detour immediately became worthwhile, when chatting to a dairy farmer while waiting for the coffee, I found out that the leafy crop that we have been seeing everywhere is in fact Swedes or Turnips. It makes very good food for cattle and sheep.

My Exercise Physiologist at my gym came from a town called Amberley, just down the road (Amber from Amberley). It’s a small but active town and in the gardens is a nicely restored mud brick cottage

The road then took us through a small pass, Weka Pass, where ’Frog Rock’ stood out as a feature.

There is a vintage railway that still runs through Weka Pass and we found its terminus station at Waipara.

Another sign indicated that there was an historic shearing shed down a side road but we could not find it. We ended up at a beach some distance away but it was nothing very spectacular. The country side was hilly and very scenic.

On returning to the highway, we found a place called Totara Estate which was a function and wedding centre. It turned out that this was the location of the woolshed so we drive up the driveway for a look. We were possibly trespassing but we did sneak a quick photo of what would have once been a busy shearing shed.

We reached Kaikoura by early afternoon, passing some rugged coastal scenery. All the stopping spots were on the wrong side of the road for us and the traffic was heavy with large transport vehicles travelling south to Christchurch. We decided to check in to our hotel, and as we had plenty of time to spare, we backtracked down the coast road for a while and took some images with the safety of stops on the side of the road on which we were travelling.

At one of these stops, we thought that some birds that we caught a glimpse of were penguins. In fact, they were actually cormorants. However, among the rocks we could see a group of fur seals.

Along this section of the coast, the railway line and the road travel side by side. Both go through short tunnels under the rocky headlands. This area was badly affected by a major earthquake a few years ago but the tunnels have now been reconstructed and both the road and railway are now open again.

Kaikōura is a picturesque coastal town located approximately 180 kilometers north of Christchurch. It sits on State Highway 1 and is known for its stunning natural beauty, where the rugged Seaward Kaikōura Range meets the Pacific Ocean. The town has an estimated population of about 3,600 residents as of 2024.

After dinner, we headed up to the town lookout to see the sunset. Because of the cloud, it was rather stunning.