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We set an alarm to watch the sunrise. Unfortunately, we were at a spot on the beach that was facing ENE, so we got a secondary sunrise over the top of the extinct volcano crater that is Marfells Beach. It was still spectacular. We made coffee and walked on the beach a bit, then packed up the tent and gear and headed on to our WS hosts, Ad & Anna in Kaikoura.
Thanks to Alex’s warning, I looked up the Whale Trail sections and we could get about 8 miles on the trail before having to get back on RT 1. We also learned that we could’ve skipped the mountain climbing yesterday, but the route would’ve been much longer. Always tradeoffs, and we’re fine with we had.
The Whale Trail is a variety of roads, gravel paths, sometimes a rail trail and sometimes dirt. Often it runs through a farmer’s field, with just a small fence between us and the sheep/cows. There was some amazing infrastructure, too, including some really cool bridges, but also some single-track and sketchy dirt sections. All-in-all, still better than being on RT 1.
That came soon enough. Not as much climbing as we were right along the coast for much of RT 1. We also stopped and some pull-offs where you could watch a seal colony. Very entertaining, and there were many others along the way, too.
We got to Kaikoura, checked out the town a bit, and had a beer, as Ad & Anna would be working late at their restaurant jobs and we could get to their house anytime. Ad & Anna were hosting us even though they had a British couple also staying there.Once we arrived, we met Charlie and Daisy who had already heated up one of the two veggie lasagna’s Anna had prepared for us. Wine, too.
We had a great time talking to Charlie and Daisy and hearing about their yearlong trip from the UK through Europe, India, Nepal, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia,and now New Zealand. Australia, Japan and the US are next up for them. When Ad and Anna came home, we heard their own world touring stories, including the US from Maine to Las Vegas (where their visas ran out). They were in NZ when COVID hit and weren’t allowed to leave, and when they got back to Belgium, the decided to emigrate to NZ. They host WS to pay back the kindnesses they received. Both couples are in their thirties and we felt like rank amateurs comparatively.
We were all leaving in the morning with long trips ahead and we went to bed sated and happy to have chanced on such a welcoming couple.
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