We arrived in Kaikoura early evening and the weather was a bit gloomy. Although it was ‘the last supper’ (the trip ended the following afternoon) the atmosphere was the exact opposite of the weather. It was a nice way to end a great day, of cycling, wining and dining.
Although Kaikoura offers a host of activities — Whale watching, ocean swimming with dolphins and more — I did nothing. I have done the whale watch before and the prospect of a very early start to plunge into the northern Antarctic Ocean to swim with a dolphin was trumped by a lie in, leisurely breakfast and coffee before the last ride.
The inland road South of Kaikoura is a state highway but the vast majority of the traffic use the coast highway. It runs between the alps & coast ‘undulating’ from ridge to river valley. Although not high the hills and twisty bits plunging down to river crossings are enough to put off most traffic making for nice cycling.
I love this little zigzag downhill, below, seen looking back after climbing out of the valley. As we rode the weather got better & better finishing with blue skies and sunshine.
The fuzzy blob in the photo below is not a UFO. It is just, like those UFO in Denver about the same time, an insect — one of a zillion bees buzzing around this flowering tree.
Our last ride finished in Waiau. I can recommend the hand scooped Hokey Pokey ice cream from Waiau Dairy & Tearooms.
It was huge and probably instantly replaced all the kilojoules burnt off getting there, and more, but who cares! Then it was on the bus for the drive back to Christchurch and farewells at various drop off points.
My ninth Adventure South trip was over but probably not my last. There is still Japan, South America, and maybe even some bits of New Zealand left to do if they invent a route I haven’t done already! You never know where a surprise Facebook message will take you!
PS: This post revealed one of those bizarre small web world connections. I wrote about Waiau Dairy & Tearooms but did a web search to check the name. It showed a great photo on Flickr taken by another “Capper” who lives in Wellington. Although no relation, as far as I know, Phillip and I had already made a contact through Flickr some fifteen months ago. Quite why he photographed the place I got off the bike & devoured an ice cream I don’t know, other than it being a classic Kiwi Dairy.
