Up the Coast

So after 3 days of frantic unpacking and organizing we decided to take a few days, get out of the city and go do something that wasn't necessary. We opted for a drive up the coast towards Abel Tasman National Park (at the northern-most tip of the South Island).

What astounded me the most about the drive up wasn't necessarily the beautiful scenery (which was breath-taking, its a shame point and shoot cameras cant capture the sense of scale that is felt in person), but rather the variety of landscape. It makes you truly understand why NZ has such a large film industry. You can visit different corners of the earth in as little as a 2 hour drive. The drive from Christchurch to Kaiteriteri (where we stayed) took a little over 5 hours and was only about 300km (takes a while due to the winding roads).

This first shot was taken just outside of CHCH where the Canterbury Plains begin to meet the southern alps. Vineyards and mountains meet and it can be quite beautiful. On the other side sits rolling hills with tall grass and roads lined with Poplars. Almost looks like it could be rural Italy. After about one hour you find yourself among large grassy mountains with patches of thick pine and fur trees.

Then suddenly you round a corner and you hit ocean and the town of Kaikoura.




With the ocean on both sides it makes this small fishing village a great little vacation spot. Between whale watching and seal colonies there is plenty to see and do. Sadly we only had enough time for lunch and then had to be off. Lunch was fantastic. We stopped at a seafood truck and ordered crawfish (which would be better described as Lobster given its massive size), abalone fritters, a variety of grilled fish, scallops and squid with fresh vegetables and rice. It was friggen awesome!

We continued north through the mountains.

To provide you with a sense of scale those little white dots on the mountain are sheep. While the texture may appear to look like a small rolling hill, these are massive grassy mountains that can only be described as steep! Very very steep. I tried going up one and made it about 10 feet before I slipped back down.
We finished off our drive through what can only be described as a highly treacherous windy mountain road and finally arrived in Kaiteriteri, our home away from home for the next 3 days. But more on that later.