Hamner Springs

We drove into Kaikoura under a cloud. We had been looking forward to this place for ages, because here our trusty Lonely Planet guidebook told us, we could possibly swim with dolphins (a special event that coincided with Dorka’s birthday.) The weather was not on our side, and no sooner had we checked into a hostel, then we learned that most trips were cancelled due to storms over the next few days. We went for a sunset hike down around the rocky cliffs at the southern end of town, where we saw loads more New Zealand Fur seals. This encounter was of a FAR closer kind than previous one. One big old fellow was sitting on a rock with about 8 humans in a ring around him snapping away merrily. I could see his teeth when he yawned, so we kept the children back a little way. These seals seemed to be used to humans, but in a positive way - they just ignored us completely!

The following morning we had a little family meeting and decided to leave Kaikoura. With no dolphin swimming, there seemed to be nothing to keep us. We had heard of a resort with warm springs in the town of Hamner springs a few hours inland, so we went there, and ended up staying several days. It was the first week of January, (Emma had just turned 5 and a half, as you can see) , it was holiday season, and the campsites were all full. We stayed a little way out of town (mistake) but the quite surroundings allowed us to start to prepare for the end of our trip. We cleaned the car and our kit, tried to get our photos in order, and just generally hung around.

One very positive point was that Dorka soon got a call from Kaikoura, that the weather had shifted, and a boat might go the next day, so she drove to the coast again while the girls and I had a day at home. (the campsite was 2 miles out of town, so we couldn’t realistically get there even.) She came back soggy but excited many hours later, with tales of huge pods of dusky dolphins frolicking all around her. It sounded great, though we have no photos of that unfortunately.

We played crazy golf, a first for Emma, which she loved and then we all had a soak in the hot springs. We enjoyed huge meals, and took a drive up to a lookout/make out point above the town and chatted about going home. Somehow, the mood of the trip had changed, and we could all feel it. It might seem dramatic, but 3 months is a long time, and this nomad lifestyle had become the norm for us, and now we had to start planning things for “afterwards.” First though we still had Christchurch to go!