Today saw us leaving our AirBnB where we slept the sleep of the innocent. What exactly does that mean? For Kathy, it means cool enough for a blanket, the right amount of breeze, the perfect height of her pillows, and just enough cushion to make it feel like a cocoon. For Dave, it means that Kathy holds still and does not toss and turn all night, does not kick him, doesn’t steal the covers, doesn’t throw the covers on him, or doesn’t get up complaining!! Feeling rejuvenated, we hit the road early to get to our next destination – Kaikoura, New Zealand.
What should have been a three-hour drive took much longer due to traffic delays. A large earthquake in 2016 (7.8 on the Richter scale!) caused quite a bit of damage, and it is still in the process of being repaired. Arriving in the town a few minutes before check-in, we decided to stop at the local “i site” (information center) for some information. Kathy eager to see some wildlife and, still feeling invigorated by her sleep last night, asked about a kayaking trip to see some seals. The trip scheduled for the morning will hopefully be fun, as we will be pedaling as well as paddling our kayaks! We should probably be embarrassed by this, since we came from one of the kayaking meccas in NYS, but, hey! that was all they had. It will be a new adventure!! Arriving at our newest AirBnB, we were greeted by our hostess who showed us around and gave us some good ideas. Not wanting to waste any time, we set off to complete some last-minute items and then off to dinner. We had a great dinner – sorry Jill, no pictures. Next time!! Then, we decided to take a walk around the end of the peninsula where we got photo bombed by a seal! Okay, we took a selfie with the seal, but the other story is more exciting. A walk up to the top of the cliffs gave us an excellent view of the “lighthouse” and excellent views of the ocean. Lighthouse is in quotations because the building was smaller that a phone booth. It was so small (How small was it?!?!) that Kathy couldn’t even get excited about it – and she loves lighthouses. The end of the day sees us sitting in our living room, looking out over the Pacific Ocean, and watching the waves as the sun sets over the snow-tinged mountains.
Only three days left in New Zealand and then we fly to Samoa!!
