Leaving Wellington early morning, I went via the Ferry to the south Island to Picton and then directly to Nelson. The weather was shitty. It rained the all time and the road was quite nice, mountain road, through vineyard, etc...

Arriving in Nelson, not much to do with that that weather, I started to plan my next days. I learned that the highway is closed near the coast because of the earthquake. The other road to go to Kaikoura from Nelson is through the mountains with a 4h drive. No choice. I decided to checkout the two lakes on the way and finished by the Hamner Springs with a lovely 1h30 in the hot springs.

Arriving near the SH1 (highway 1), I learned that this one is also closed to Kaikoura, so an other trip through the back road where I encountered a lot of sheeps that where being moved between fields. I slowed down and waited behing the guy leading them and the guy stopped to let me go but there was like 200 sheeps on the road. I opened my window and asked him with a smile: "Should I just go?" And the guy who was actually just a kid answered smilling: "Yes of course" :).

Finally, I arrived in Kaikoura. I met a French guy in my room and we talked for an hour about NZ and our respective trips. He told me to go hike the Mont Flyffe, and I did that today after watching the sperm whales from a plane. It was amazing. The views from the plane and the hike were breath taking. Seing the ocean and the mountain with snow is quite a sight.

Now Christchurch... Tomorrow will be an other day.

See ya