Australia & NZ 2011 (31 March)

It was a beautiful day in Kaikoura. The sun and the cool breeze created the perfect climate, not too hot, not too cold. Most of the people left early to the dolphin encounter (some of the swam with the dolphins, others watched from the boat). I went to the gym instead. I know, I know.

Cate and I looked around for a place to have breakfast. Prices were higher compared to cafes in the cities. Cate bought an apple strudel at a bakery; I wanted something more substantial. I decided to stay at the Why Not Cafe, only because of the name. Seriously. Cate ordered a cappuccino to drink with her strudel, I ordered a skim latte and an omelette with cheese & mushrooms.

The coffee was alright, nothing especial for the price. The omelette was huge. My guess is there were at least 6 eggs in it. It was almost falling apart but the flavour was good, the mushrooms were a bit too watery (it’d had helped to sautee and drain them before adding them to the omelette). They gave two slices of toasted white bread and butter as a side, I ate one slice but I surely didn’t needed it.

Skim latte, cappuccino ($4.30 each)

Omelette with cheese & mushrooms ($13.50)

We went for a walk and bought some souvenirs for our families. Then we hung out in the hostel until a bus picked us up. This time we headed to Glentui, where our “mother” Buddhist association has bought land for a retreat centre. In the bus there were all sorts of snacks circulating back and forth. I had a couple of squares of really good dark chocolate.

We were greeted in Glentui with beers, cheese, sausages and crackers. Our lama blessed the place, we had a short meditation and then got back in the bus heading to Christchurch. I was starting to get hungry (yay! the mega omelette was finally digested!) and from the various goodies offered I had a bite of a gigantic chocolate chip cookie, some mixed nuts and a dried fig.

We arrived at the hostel just before 8 pm and got out of there approximately one hour after, when the girl finally managed to sort out all of bookings. We went to the Buddhist centre to hang out with the locals (there was no program that night). We saw photos of the destruction caused by the earthquake, really shocking. Then we proceeded to nibble on the dinner leftovers that were in the kitchen: chips, cheese, roast beef, some lettuce and basil leaves, bread, vegetable quiche, chocolate chip cake, all washed down with a couple of glasses of merlot.

Why Not Cafe
66 West End
Kaikoura 8280
(3) 319 6486

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Australia & NZ 2011 (30 March)

I woke up at 6 after only 4 hours of sleep. We had been in the party last night, then helped tidying things up and left with our hosts for the night.

The reason we could not sleep longer was that we had to catch a shuttle bus to the ferry terminal to get to Kaikoura, a beautiful seaside town, for a well-deserved rest. By the time we arrived at the ferry terminal we were already getting hungry. Luckily, the guys had brought the panini that were left from the party. My breakfast was two vegetarian panini and a latte.

The trip lasted three hours. We were on board of one of those huge ferries that carry vehicles, apart from that it had a shop, a bar and a cafe. I got a bit hungry but there was no way I would spend money in eating there; instead I ate one of my organic pears and used the money to buy a few megas of internet access. We disembarked in Picton and had to wait more than an hour for the bus to pick us up. In the meantime I went for a walk, and had another panino plus an apple.

As the bus approached the town centre in Kaikoura I looked through the window and saw a community gym. I immediately knew I’d like this town. We were dropped in our hostels and everybody found something to do in the few hours we had before the program continued. Some slept, some went for a walk, some had coffee in cafes nearby. I went to the gym, and not any gym: a decent one, finally, with heaps of free weights, weighted bars, a squat rack, benches, pull-up bars (assisted and non-assisted), a heavy bag, boxing gloves, etc.

That night we had a BBQ in a couple’s house. Because they’re American, there were no sausages or steaks, but burgers and buns, plus bagged potato chips, baked beans, lentil salad, pasta salad, potato & gherkin salad, a green salad (leaves and cherry tomatoes) and applesauce.

Before the photos start, here’s the disclaimer. As written in my previous post, my camera died in Wellington. The only option I had was taking pics with my mobile, which unfortunately is not an iPhone. Plus, I had limited memory and didn’t have the cable to download the photos to my netbook. What I’m saying is that starting from now, photos of the tour will be few and crappy. Sorry about that.

Salads and chips

Chips, salads and buns

Grilling burgers

The burgers were awesome, as most of the other stuff. The only salad I didn’t find very tasty was the lentil one. I had seconds and a couple of glasses of merlot, and even when I was quite full I couldn’t help myself when I saw the trays with cake. Chocolate-gingerbread, carrot and banana cakes. I had a small piece of each until my stomach couldn’t stretch no more. It was time to go back to the hostel.

Banana and chocolate-gingerbread cake

Chocolate-gingerbread and carrot cake