KAIKOURA - NEW ZEALAND

16th - 20th Aug 2011

Weather for penguins

After slopping out at 0600hrs I waited outside the Jailhouse for the shuttle bus to take us to the station to catch the 0700hrs 'Coastal Pacific' train. It's final destination is Picton but my plan was to get off half-way at Kaikoura.There was me and an Indian gentleman. It had snowed again overnight, as forecast. Not too much, but the Indian decided to walk to the station anyway. It is, I had been told, normally a 15 minute walk. I had a large wheely bag, a small rucksack and a briefcase to carry so decided to wait for the transport. By 0640hrs it had not arrived. I had to make a decision; wait or walk. I decided to walk. Towing the wheely bag through the snow was like dragging a corpse. It did not wheel, nor slide very well. I persevered by using the semi-cleared slushy road. I then got a bit lost, and with 10 minutes to departure time I flagged down one of the few passing cars. He only stopped, reluctantly, because I was in the middle of the road. I asked the single occupant, a bloke with a beard and bobble hat, where the station was and he pointed, vaguely, and told me it was nearby. I asked if he could please give me a lift because I was going to be late and had heavy luggage. He said no and drove off. "Bastard!" I shouted after him. I found myself on the railway track itself, in about a foot of snow. I could just make out the platform about 400 yards away. I could see the red lights on the back of the train. I had about 7 minutes in hand. I dragged, and puffed and wheezed and cursed my way towards the station. I had a vision of getting to within feet of the train and it slowly pulling out. It was like having one of those dreams where you could not move your legs. It was still only half light, I was making desperately slow progress and both sweating and icing-up simultaneously. 2 minutes to go and I was within 100 yds of the platform. I saw a workman there. I yelled at him and waved like a maniac. I might have been dying. If I was ever going to suffer a heart attack and/or die of exhaustion this was it. He turned away. Another bastard! I was bent double and hauling what now felt like a dead sperm whale behind me. It had just gone 0700hrs and I was on my knees, cursing and swearing with what little breath I had left. I somehow clawed myself plus dead whale, now with an anchor attached, through snowdrifts onto the platform. The train was still there. I noticed that noone was on board. I staggered, half-dead and wild-eyed to the station building to be told that the engine had not arrived ( snowed in ) and there would be at least an hour's delay. Bloody Hell! I then saw the beardy driver with the bobble hat. He had the nerve say "Glad to see you made it, mate". I replied "no thanks to you, mate", and politely refrained from adding "you miserable unhelpful wanker". If I had had the strength I would have punched him on the nose. The shuttle bus arrived 5 minutes later.

Left: Kaikoura from a little way south where I stayed at yet another excellent YHA. It's not a big place but popular with sperm whales, seals, penguins and tourists. Arrived at about 1.00pm and the sea was too rough to go out 'whale watching'.
There were only three of us at the YHA, myself a Malaysian girl, Yin, and a Dutch girl, Adeline. I suspect many people had been stranded by the weather. Yin had been there, unintentionally, for four days already. They were great company. We all went out for an amusing supper in somewhat deserted down-town Kaikoura.
The next day the wind was even stronger and the sea rougher. Again no whales on the agenda. Yin suggested I go on the delightful coastal walk ( she had probably done it several times ) to view the fur seal colony. I declined because the weather was pretty grotty and, for some totally unjustifiable reason, in the same way as I took a dislike to stupid spitting alpacas, I don't like seals. Neither have ever done me any harm but I reckon seals are dirty smelly beasts which make horrible honking noises, have gloopy eyes, can be surprisingly aggressive and devastate any local fish population. They are also thoroughly boring to watch. Orcas ( killer whales ) like them. I went to the pub instead.
Interestingly, Kaikoura boasts of it's delicious locally caught crayfish. On the pub lunch menu they were on offer at $105 a crack! I might understand that if they had been flown in fresh from the south of France but... locally caught?....I didn't see too many millionaires queuing up to order them.
So, apart from being amused by the charming girls, Kaikura was a bit of a disappointment. At the railway station, before the Coastal Pacific train on to Picton arrived, they were showing a film about sperm whales. It was excellent; both fascinating and educational. I saw and learnt more about sperm whales from that than if I had been in a boat where you are lucky to see a spout of water, it's long back or possibly it's tail fluke as it dives. I learnt, for example, that sperm whales have teeth ( like dolphins and orcas ) and are carnivores. They are the deepest diving whale, 700 metres long, weigh 4,000 tons and eat sheep ( and hopefully seals for afters ).

Right: The sea was even rougher. Might have washed a few of those pesky seals away.The trip to Picton was a mere 3 hours up the coast.

....and just to give you an example of the countryside, on up past Blenheim and the renowned Marlborough wine country......

....to the ferry, the Kaitaki ( ex Pride of Cherbourg again ) at Picton where, if you are lucky, the conditions will be like this........
( photo taken from an advertisement )

......but in reality were officially described as this....

........however it could have been worse, as the helpful chap at check-in demonstrated......

......and the place quickly took on the look and sound of a floating vomitorium. Lots of shouting for Ruth and Huey and those fortunate enough had their own private facilities, as per this chap. When he finished I offered him a bite of my mince pie. Not appreciated.

We arrived in Wellington a bit late. I had a day to kill before I could get a seat on the Overlander train back to Auckland. The same one that broke down half way a few weeks ago when I was returning from Palmerston North.
Right: I previously missed this interesting 'water sculpture' in Cuba Street. It tips water from bucket to bucket until the big one at the bottom is full, which then empties. OK, I was interested.

Also took the opportunity to go to the Archive building to view the original 1840 Treaty of Waitangi. This is one of the rather moth-eaten pages ( left ) signed by some of the Maori representatives. It effectively handed sovereignty over New Zealand to the Crown. It has been the source of much misunderstanding ever since. Not surprisingly because it was impossible to read it. They probably have transcripts.

Then back onto the Overlander train to Auckland. A 12 hour, 700 km journey. Past the same places as before, unsurprisingly, but I will show a few bits of scenery nevertheless....  several gorges like this ( right )

Left: Andy, one of the excellent crew who were multifunctional. They changed crews half way. They served at the caff, did tickets and also gave a good commentary on local sights.

Approaching the village of Ohingati we were told to expect a bloke to appear waving a red flag. This is Kivun, he is a 79 year old 'railway icon' and has waved his red flag at all passing passenger trains at this spot for as long as anyone can remember. Kivun duly obliged like a man possessed and, of course, everyone waved back enthusiastically.

... on past Mt. Ruapehu ( 9174ft )...a volcano at the Tongariro National Park.......

...and Mt. Ngauruhoe......another volcano

....over this viaduct which was the scene of a major disaster in the 1960s when Mt. Ruapehu erupted and sent a wall of mud downstream which collapsed the bridge. The train driver wasn't aware and therefore didn't stop in time. I think 138 people were killed. There are suitable precautions in place now to prevent a recurrence.

Left: Some of the beautiful undulating sheep and dairy cattle country south of Hamilton.

Right: Just to give you an idea of the size of a Kiwi's egg in relation to the bird itself. Crikey! This has little to do with the rail journey, but thought you might be interested.

And so on to Auckland. At least the train didn't break down this time. I have been around the city earlier and have another day here so will undoubtedly have something to say about the place. Due to time constraints and other more interesting things to do, I suspect my impressions and photos of the 'City of Sails', as it is known, will have to wait. My ship, the Bahia, leaves Auckland for Sydney on the 23rd, arriving on the 27th Aug.
I hope it's not another floating soviet gulag. Rest assured I will be taking sufficient emergency rations on board. 

Auckland. City of Sails.