Kaikoura

Amanda has allowed me (after some convincing) to write about our time spent in Kaikoura to mark my official debut as a fellow blogger haha. Luckily for me, I won't need to write much as the pictures speak for themselves. The small coastal town of Kaikoura is located about a 2.5hrs drive just north of Christchurch. Unfortunately we left Christchurch late in the afternoon and drove most of the coastal drive in the dark...even in the dark I could tell we were missing out on some incredible views.

We were happily greeted the next morning when we departed on our hike to see fresh snow on the mountain peaks over looking the town, marking the beginning of winter on the South Island. The camera came out to snap the first few pics and I don't think it ever went back in its case.

We continued down the main street to commence the loop of the peninsula. Enjoy!

The good looking girls I packed along, with the snowy mountain peaks in the background.

Baby seals! I wasn't expecting these on the hike, what else will we see?

Adult seals!...I could have poked him, but the girls wouldn't let me.

those aren't rocks next to our feet....seals!

More seals!!!...this place was littered with them.

To get to this point we had to walk down a wet cattle trail while cautiously trying to avoid stepping in cow poop, we made it and had to take a picture to mark the accomplishment! 

A small bay opposite to Kaikoura on the peninsula

Amanda and Anita are scaling down the fence to avoid stepping in the muddy path. It was quite a sight to watch, it took them about 10 minutes to move 10 feet but they did it! 

Pig! Now this picture just doesn't do justice. In the picture it may look cute, but I assure you this filthy animal was disgusting...I haven't eaten pork since.

filthy animals

So during our hike we came across a sign that said "Sheep Shearing Show at 1:30", we agreed we had to check it out and we consciously kept tabs on the clock to make sure we would be back in time. We were, and we were pretty impressed with the show the friendly farmer put on. I know this sounds corny, but it was definitely one of the highlights of the trip.

The girls feeding sheep and loving it!

This sheep didn't flinch during the entire shearing, Anita and I were in awe.

All done!

Ok it's fact time: This particular sheep gets sheared 2 times per year and its wool is used for making wool rugs/carpet. Each time they get sheared they produce about 3kilograms of wool which the farmer sells for $3/kg....so thats $18/year/sheep.

Nice haircut buddy!

The farm dog enjoying relaxing in the wool.

The wool is then placed into a tote and hydraulically pressed by the blue machine to pack it tight. One tote is about 150kilograms...I'll let you do the math (3kg=1sheep=$9).

hachi machi! thats an ugly sheep.

We only spent 1 day in Kaikoura but our day was packed full of touring around taking in the scenic views and seeing plenty of animals. The next and last stop of the road trip is Marlborough, stay tuned for the trip finale!