Kaikoura

Basically the first thing we did after arriving in Kaikoura was registering for the beer school on Saturday night. There, we got to try 6 different craft beers and learn a lot about brewing, beer history, and taste. Really, really cool. Even cooler was that we got to know a French couple at the beer school who were actually woofing at the brewer couple running the beer school. They and the brewers invited us to their farm the next day for more beers, a friendly game of crockett and lasagna! A little mishap happened in the process of preparing the lasagna though. While buying the ingredients our new French friends bought - as any sane person would - tomato sauce for the lasagna. What they didn't know is that in NZ all things labelled tomato sauce actually is ketchup! So, we had a ketchup lasagna :-D.

The other stuff we undertook were accompanied by similar struggles but they all turned out to be great in the end. We were booked on a Sunday whale watching tour which got cancelled. The same happened to the replacement tour. Bad weather would have made for a rather unpleasant ride. But on the coast the weather was actually fine so we went on the 3 hour peninsula walkway. This turned out to be a good thing as the weather on the coast only got worse from there while it got better out at sea.

Have we mentioned that this country is beautiful? In case we haven't, here it is: this country is beautiful! Not only did we get to see fur seals along the walkway but the landscape was yet again absolutely perfect! You look left and down the cliff and you see beautifully coloured water and think you are in Thailand again. Then you turn right and just off the coast is a range of big mountains, some of which are higher than 2500m and you think you are in the Alps. So great!

By Monday the weather at sea had picked up enough so we could go on our vastly overpriced tour. And it was great! We saw 2 giant sperm whales (cachalot in French), a couple of dolphins and albatrosses and as a bonus on top a small group of 5 orcas! Soooo cool!

Now we are on our way to Christchurch, the city from which we will be flying home in exactly 2 weeks!Läs mer