A week with Mike's folks

On the first day of the hike

After four great days in New Zealand looking at penguins and driving on the wrong side of the road, we met up with Mike's mom and step-dad (almost officially!!!).

We went on a great two day hike just south of Kaikoura on the South Island. The first night we stayed at the Staging Post, a nice little hotel just off the highway. The next morning they drove us to the trail head to start walking. And we kept walking. Then we walked some more. Finally, we got up the first hill twenty minutes later and picked blackberries as a reward. We walked for about 6 hours the first day (including breaks and lunch). We had great vistas over the ocean, of farmland and of some native bush. The entire hike was on private farm land, so we were also priviledged to walk through a lot of sheep pooh. That night we slept in a great place called the Loft. It overlooked the ocean and was just gorgeous.

The lunch hut on the first day

The second day of walking was along the beach in the morning and then back into the bush in the afternoon. The beach was tiring to walk along but it was amazing. The water was very powerful and unswimmable due to strong rip tides. We had two fur seals run out in front of us on the beach. One was scared by Mike's mom as she walked back into a ravine. She was probably 3 meters (10 ft) from this huge creature. The afternoon hike went through the land that had not been touched by animals since 1982. The owners have tried to restore the native bush and have done an excellent job. It was a wonderful rainforest to walk through with fantail birds chasing us most of the way down the trail. That night we stayed in the Garden Cottage - a cute little cabin in a great spot on the farm.

On the beach during the second day

One of the fur seals that we saw on the beach.

After we finished the hike, we went north (Andrea and mom sort of went south with their humor). We came up to the New Zealand wine country around Blenheim and the Marlborough Sound. We stayed in a little town, Havelock, and just had a great time. We relaxed, played cards, drove around to different scenic spots, and we even walked a bit. We were also treated to a huge group of baby fur seals playing on the edge of the ocean outside of Kaikoura.

The only unfortunate part about Mom and Larry visiting was that they had to leave. Now we are on our own for another week before we go to Hawaii. We will be kayaking tomorrow in Abel Tasman...