Heading further up the coast we were straddled between the pacific on one side and the rail line on the other for near 100km. Weaving through a multitude of tunnels and following the road around the cliff edges was good fun, but would certainly have been a lot more fun in one of those convertible vintage sports cars that kept tooting away. We soon arrived at the small peninsular town of Kaikoura. The Pacific Ocean here drops sharply to nearly 100m not far from the shore and again to nearly a 1km deep a short distance out. This makes for a varying spectrum of ocean blues as well as bringing a whole host of sealife close to the shores.
From town we took a long stroll around the Kaikoura peninsular taking in an ever changing environment from sandy beaches to woodland, and farmland to seal colonies. It was probably the latter that was of the most interest however. The seal colony was right there on the end of the peninsular and many of the seals had ventured up on to the land for some Easter holiday sunbathing action. This meant that you could get pretty close, within 2 meters if you dared. You could definitely get close enough to smell them! The rest of the walk took us to the very end of the peninsular and some steep cliff edges that felt like the end of the world. Looking out and knowing that there is nothing in that direction (ignoring perhaps Easter Island) for several thousand kilometers until you reach Patagonian Chile is a very cool feeling.
That evening we headed further north still and found a nice camping spot again alongside the beach but just the other side of the rail tracks (luckily the trains only go two or three times a day) at Okiwi Bay. The following morning we did a small hike again, up to the top of cliff for the 'Pacific Lookout'. It was much more strenous in the sun than we thought it would be but once we got to the top the views more than made up for it. Theres a great lookout across the Ocean and from that height (550m) you can really see the Pacific shelfs drop as the blues of the ocean darkern.
Further up the coast we arrived at our third beachside campsite in as many days. It was on the pleasant Marfells Beach, it was however absolutely overrun with Kiwi's out enjoying the warm autumn Easter weekend before the onset of winter kicks in. This being Easter Sunday and being located far from family and friends for another holiday season we tucked into some hot cross buns, but alas no Easter egg hunt, maybe we're told old for that anyway. That morning we made for the small port town of Picton. This was our entry point to the South Island via the ferry some 18 days ago. We saw very little of Picton and the Marlborough Sound other than what we saw from the ferry last time so decided to allow out it a little more this time around. There's the supposedly stunning four day Queen Charlotte track which you can do through the Sound, but with just an afternoon to spare we opted instead for a shorter walk to the end of the picton snout which offers great views of the Marlborough Sound. The sun was shining again, in fact since slating the weather on the West Coast we have been basking in autumn sun for the last dozen days. The view from the end of the walk was stunning and being the Easter Sunday those that had them were certainly taking advantage in their boats, as looking down from above the water was littered with them.
Picton brings an end to our South Island journeys as we take the ferry at 8.00am the following morning and start our 600km three day race back up to Auckland.
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