East to the West

After driving through the ruins of Christchurch we trucked it to Kaikoura in search of some tasty waves.  In Kaikoura we found sunshine, fish and chips, and some long gentle waves.   We take turns riding our longboard, Eugene goes first. Later I suit up and swim on out to trade off. On our first day waves were gentle and allowed us to try some tandem riding.  We managed to both stand up and ride at the same time for a split second!!! After the first day the ocean went flat so we promptly headed out to the Kaikoura Peninsula to look for wildlife. We saw sea lions basking in the sun and Hector Dolphins off shore.  The next day we drove two hours down a dirt road to Isolation Hill.  Here we hiked into a valley and up a river to an ancient water carved canyon. Some sections looked like a Sawcut Gorge. Our hiking boots now needed to be dried.

We woke up the next day to find rain in the forecast for the next week in Kaikoura so we decided to follow the sun and head to the west where spells of fine weather were on tap.   We geared up little Frenchy and took off over the mountains through Lewis pass straight to the other side of the island. In Westport we decided to venture towards Karamea.  From Westport there’s a one way road to sleepy Karamea town, the gateway of the Heaphy Track.  On the way there we stopped at the Denniston Coal Mines for a walk through history and to view the area from a serious vantage point high in the bush. Further on down the road we headed to the Oparara Basin, deep in the Kahurangi National Park.  The Oparara Basin holds many hidden treasures. It’s another long road to the end of nowhere but beautiful bush and limestone cave/archways await you.

 At the parking lot we realized another flaw in Frenchy.  There are no indicators on the dash when you leave your lights on, no sound, no warning, just you and Frenchy. So our battery died so we found the flaw too late and spent the night in the park, at the parking lot. We tried five times to push Frenchy up the ‘wee’ hill and give her a jump start to get her going.  The battery didn’t hold a charge until the next morning when we tried one more time and got her going to get us out of there and onto our Heaphy Track adventure. 

The Heaphy track is incredible. It takes you through palm studded beach to moss fringed Beech Forests.  One of the best forest walks in New Zealand.  We hiked four days along the beach and into the foggy hill tops and back down.  In the park there are nikau palms, giant tree ferns, supple jack, carnivorous snails, and feisty wekas. Wekas are native flightless birds that are curious and a bit pesky when they steal your trash bag and try to hide it from you.

After the 40 mile walk we decided to check out the Karamea Music festival which happens once a year on the Estuary.  There was a great sunset followed by a clear night and a full moon rising. It was hard to dance after hiking but we managed to shake a  leg. When we left we forgot about high tide and had to forge the estuary to get back to Frenchy.  We got belt level in water and felt sorry for the snails under our feet while trudging through the mud.  After Karamea we headed back to Westport where we surfed, recharged and were reluctant to leave the west coast but all good things must come to an end. With rain in the forecast we followed the sun back to the east side to the town of Blenheim.  We are in search of a job harvesting grapes, getting Frenchy her next registration, and of course….finding some tasty waves.