anyway, had a leisurely morning at mountain house YHA, and then hit the road, making some random roadside stops to admire the southern alps that were surrounding us. our first real stop was at a lake whose names escapes me, where we spied a few rare birds, whose name also escapes met (only about 250 left). next up was cave stream cave. we didn't actually go caving (though that would have been completely awesome i think) as we were not prepared for that, but did do the short trail to see both the entrance and exit of the cave. my favorite stop of the day was definitely castle hill though. out of nowhere, these incredible limestone rock formations just emerged on the hilly landscape. several lord of the ring scenes were filmed here. we climbed around on the rocks - though me naturally being in flip flops had a bit of a hard time keeping up with the sneaker'd theresa and steph. eventually i just went barefoot. and how i so wanted to go rock climbing! it would have been amazing there - great face climbs and a few crack climbs too.
stopped for lunch in a town called springfield, since it is apparently known for its pies. got venison, in honor again of the deer park sans deer. and it took me a while, but there was a giant pink frosted sprinkled donut sitting in the middle of a field. my first thought was "funny, that's my favorite kind of donut". then, b/c i always think of this next, "that's homer simpson's favorite kind of donut". then, "oh wait - we're in springfield!". duh, er i mean doh.. it was a monument (as in all the other springfields around the world) to the simpsons movie.
bypassed hanmer hot springs, as theresa and steph both didn't have bathing suits. i had 2, but that wouldn't help 3 of us. oh well. the drive was really long, or at least felt that way, and the steady stream of sunshine (our first in a while!) was really making us hot and tired. stopped briefly in a town called cheviot to refresh with some iced coffee and chocolate (definitely not as good as the theatre in wanaka), and finally arrived to the coastline of kaikoura.
bypassed hanmer hot springs, as theresa and steph both didn't have bathing suits. i had 2, but that wouldn't help 3 of us. oh well. the drive was really long, or at least felt that way, and the steady stream of sunshine (our first in a while!) was really making us hot and tired. stopped briefly in a town called cheviot to refresh with some iced coffee and chocolate (definitely not as good as the theatre in wanaka), and finally arrived to the coastline of kaikoura.
it was beautiful. i love the ocean, and really miss it during times like these. arrived a bit earlier than expected, so checked into our residence for the night - dusky lodge - where steph used to work. we also got to meet some of her co-workers including meg, leah and and irish fellow named mickey. walked around the town and got another woolly item - a really nice merino wool shirt (which i can say now i've already worn at least 5 times here as it's been so cold!). found my key chain after a long search, and had some thai food at the lodge before hitting the bed.
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