Cold spring weather

 Over the last few days the weather has been cold and windy - probably quite seasonally appropriate but not what we wanted for our holiday! However, no complaining (well, not much anyway) because in Gisborner and on the East Coast of the North Island they have had a lot of flooding. So some cool wind and not much rain here on the eastern side of the South Island is not too bad really.

It has been cooler though than we were expecting, but we both packed quite a few winter clothes so we are keeping warm. We haven't been out biking again after our second day's adventures in Blenheim. But to be fair, the places we have stayed have not been particularly scaredy-cat biker friendly.

We had a night in Seddon - no real reason but back in my early 20s there was a woman I taught with who was ancient (at least 40...) who grew up in Seddon, so I have always wondered what it was like. Interesting small motorcamp with a mix of people staying: a few permanents, a couple of women whop were there for the shearing, and a group of four couples (4 sisters and their husbands) who were in Seddon for a nostalgia trip as they had gone to school there in their early childhoods. And us.

The wind blew, it was chilly, I stayed inside and cooked a veg curry. Leftovers are in the freezer - yay!!

I am not sure why, but David has started trying to put his shoes away in the fridge ... Could have something to do with the fact that the cupboard they are actually stored in is below the fridge, but it is a troubling sign, I reckon!

ACP had just accidentally flipped his Rummikub stand over and tossed tiles all over the saloon. TBH, we didn't enjoy Rummikub - the rules sheet was incomplete (clearly written by someone who could already play but who was not a trainer ...), and we discovered at the end that we were missing about 4 tiles and one of them was a joker! So the set (incomplete) has been recycled in the various bins at the Kaikoura Top10.

Sunset at Seddon - I was already in bed ...

In the morning we went to the Station Cafe for breakfast - the eggs benedict were OK but the yolks were not runny, but I bought a scone and a muffin for our lunch and they were both very yummy.

I do love a palindrome, and this one is distinctly satisfying, I reckon.

 

We came down the coast to stay in Kaikoura for the night. On the way we stopped at Paparoa Point just north of Kaikoura - what an amazing display developed by the local runanga and Waka Kotahi (Ministry of Transport).

The statue of Tuteurutira, a chief of Ngai Tahu, at Paparoa Point.

The steps up to the statue show Tuteurutira's whakapapa (lineage)

 

Tuteurutira's whakapapa

Looking north - the direction we had come from. All of this shoreline was raised by a couple of metres in the 2016 earthquake.

 

The hills dwarf the motorhome

The ends of the bench seats all have the stylised whale's tail.

We stayed at the Top 10 where we have stayed the last twice we have been here. It is a really nice camp to stay at - excellent facilities, very clean, the powered sites for caravans and motorhomes are on concrete and very level, and each has a picnic table. 

I went out for a walk yesterday afternoon to see if I could find a bowl for the kitchen sink - David had managed to put the chopping knife through the flexible bowl and tried to tell me it had perished ... I am not so green as I am cabbage-looking, and I can tell a knife wound from a perish/stress split ... $3 bought a replacement (not a flexible one ...) from a local shop that sells a bit of everything: I'd call it a $2 shop but most things were $3 or $4 ... I also got a couple of velcroed elastic straps for David to use to wrap the large outdoor floor mat, and some small stick on hooks that he had expressed a desire for. He is easily satisfied in the retail stakes ...

This morning David decided to change the shoes he'd been wearing over the last few days and thought, rather than leave them lying around to be tripped over, he had better put them away ...

And into the fridge - he tries again. Is this a bad sign or am I worrying unnecessarily, do you think?

 

Before we headed away today we went to the Kaikoura Museum - what an amazing place, especially the display about the 2016 earthquake. It did make me cry - people were so courageous and showed such community spirit in the face of an event that had both physical and emotional impacts.

I remember where we were when that earthquake occurred - we were home in Waikanae and didn't even get out of bed, even though it went on for 2 minutes down here - I am not sure how long it kept going for in Waikanae though. We were woken up by it, but went back to sleep. We were woken at 2am by our son Tim calling from the UK really concerned about us as he had heard there had been a big earthquake in Wellington. 

Not us, but centred near Kaikoura. A huge uplift of the coast and great cracks in the countryside, roads split and covered in slips and the railway track cracked and disrupted. Cupboards emptied on to floors, shop shelves emptied, shop fronts smashed by the forces of the ground moving.

The main highway was closed for ages and all traffic had to divert inland for months over narrow country roads. 

One of the things I smiled at this morning was that people started talking about getting uber flights in and out of the town of Kaikoura - helicopters were the main mode of transport for some time.

We are going to come back to Kaikoura on this trip - I want to go whalewatching. I found out today that NZMCA members get a 50% discount! Yay!!!

We are now in Waiau - this is a small village on the rural road (SH70) that was used throughout the SH1 closure and rebuild in late 2016 and 2017. The road is narrow, windy, hilly, lots of one way bridges and some amazing views and wide river valleys. We are here in Waiau because we are meeting Ann and Salvi here for the weekend - they are on their way here from Stoke, a much longer journey than we have had to get here.

I have cooked the main part of dinner and the rest will be done when they arrive. Dessert is thawing - a creamy coconut key lime pie from the supermarket.

Now it's time for a blob for an hour or so while David finishes the dishes - he has started them over in the camp kitchen, but came back to send an email that absolutely had to be done immediately ... You know the kind, I am sure!

Just so you know, I did have to send him back to the camp kitchen to fetch the chopping boards he left there ...