Auckland to Christchurch Road Trip Day 4

Picton to Christchurch via Ward Beach and Kaikōura

On our way from Picton to Christchurch, we took the recommendation from the nice woman at the hostel and stopped at Ward Beach on our way to Kaikōura. It took about an hour to drive there and when we walked down to the beach, it was full of smooth pebbles, just like she said. We tried skimming some of the bigger, flat ones, but the waves were too choppy. We did manage to find some cool rocks as well as the green jade that New Zealand is well known for.

We walked further down the beach where it turned from rocks and pebbles to sand. It was here that we started to see paua shells. They were smaller at first, a little smaller than the palm of my hand or smaller, and they were light in color, almost white. Then, Allan found a big one with the purple coloring that we've been seeing on paua shells in stores. The outside was rough and, obviously, not the smooth and shiny color that matches the inside like the ones in the store that have been sanded and treated.

We spent a further hour or so exploring the beach and finding shells. I also enjoyed climbing over rocks and looking in the little ride pools for creatures. It was a great way to spend our morning and we ended up coming away with quite a few beautiful paua shells (good thing we didn't buy any!).

We left Ward Beach behind, thankful for the woman's recommendation, and carried on towards Kaikōura. The coastline was stunning with craggy cliffs and ocean to the left and large rocks occasionally jutting out of the water. We pulled off the road just before Kaikōura and saw a decent sized fur seal colony lazing on the rocks and playing in the tide pools. There were a few baby seals as well as adults.

We continued on after our seal stop until we reached Fyffe House in Kaikōura. We stopped here and got out to see one seal moulting on the rocks. We got back in the car and drove around the top of the peninsula parking the car at the end. We walked from the parking lot over the rocks to the sea. We saw a handful of seals here, but nowhere near the amount we saw when we pulled off. It's been the unplanned stops winning the day today!

With no further plans, we started the last 2 and a bit hours down to Christchurch. With the stop in Kaikōura not taking as long as expected, the ETA showed that we could get to the car rental place to return it before they close today to save a job in the morning.

Along the drive to Christchurch, we had a bit more of the cliffs and coastline, pulling off to see some seals swimming and an orca in the far distance (too far for a picture). Other than that, after we moved inland, the terrain was much the same with rolling green hills and some trees starting to turn autumnal oranges and yellows.

We made it to Christchurch with plenty of time to drop off the car. The campervan place, Spaceships, was a couple minutes walk away which was great. We waited a bit to get the keys from the key box and then started to acquaint ourselves with our home for the next two and a half weeks. It's a bit small being just a converted minivan, but needs (and budget) must. Before we made our way to our free campsite for the night we stopped for a bit of dinner and to charge the laptop since we have no outlets in the car like previous vans. It was raining, and there's not a lot of room to stand or move around inside the van, so we got a bit wet setting up the bed. I'm sure we will get quicker at all this as well as storing the bags at some point in the next two weeks 🙃.Read more