We're Back in the South Island- Kaikoura; Part 2

Real-time

Continued on from Part 1

The Ohau Point seal colony, north of Kaikoura, has always been a regular place for us to stop on our way up or down the main highway and I was keen to see how it had fared after sustaining extensive damage during the 2016 Kaikoura Earthquake.

It was a pleasant surprise to see that as a result of the 'quake the colony now has a large rocky platform to rest on, most of it having been pushed up out of the ocean. The platform also contains numerous small pools, a perfect nursery playground for the seal pups to play in while they wait for their mothers to return from the sea.

There's also a new landscaped parking bay and viewing area along the edge of the colony's rocky platform. 

This was the old parking area, look how close the sea was before the 'quake. The seabed has been pushed up quite a height, it now finishes at the back of the seal colony's platform.  

The world famous Ohau Stream Waterfall pool was destroyed in the 'quake. This was where the seal pups from the colony used to travel 500mtrs up the stream to the pool seeking shelter, safety and to play in the fresh water pool. It's also where they entertained hundreds of tourists.

I'm very grateful that we were able to visit the pool a number of times in the past, it was a very special place and especially if you were the only one there being entertained by curious seal pups. Although towards the end it was getting a bit out of hand with dozens of people descending on the pool daily, many of them disturbing the pups by swimming with them, touching them and trying to get selfies. I was due to do a month at the pool as a volunteer ranger when the 'quake happened. These photos are from one of our previous visits.

Now with several pools on the platform, the pups can play and are safe from crashing waves, marauding males and overpowering people...

...as they wait for Mum to return from the sea. And when she does arrive there's no way this pup is letting go.

The road north of Kaikoura was lifted by over 4 metres in places and although the road has been reopened for over 18 months, there's still a lot of road repairs, rail line embankments and rock face work going on, along with stop & go people and lights (with helpful countdown).

They certainly have done a lot of work though and it's actually quite hard to see where old sections of the road finish & new ones start.

Our next overnight stop is at an old favourite of ours, Donegal House, an Irish Hotel on the outskirts of Kaikoura. 

Donegal House also has a campervan park; there are two large areas for RVs to park. Power is available on one side of the Park at $20 per van, if you don't need power then it is free to park. Of course it would be courteous to partake in happy hour or a meal at the pub though. And especially when it's a cold winter's night and the fire is roaring away inside.

We parked in the smaller area this time, backed up to a paddock with a small pond. Last time we were here there was a lonely (& rare) white swan on the pond, he was missing this time so I hope he's been packed off  to find a mate.

We stopped at the South Bay Marina on our way to the Kaikoura Peninsula Walkway which we'd decided to walk. The snow covered Seaward Kaikoura Range made a great backdrop to the hauled out fishing fleet.

The last time we stopped at the marina, it was in atrocious weather but we'd wanted to see how the rebuilding of the harbour was going after the seabed was pushed up by the 'quake making it very difficult for the commercial boats to enter & exit the harbour on anything but a full high tide.

The tourist tour boats now have their own jetties at the new South Bay Marina and there's also a separate jetty for cruise boat tenders to disembark passengers.

I've walked the Kaikoura Peninsula Walkway previously, this time David decided to walk in from the Point Kean end and meet me half way. He dropped me at the South Bay entrance and then drove back into town and out to Point Kean at the end of the peninsula. I love this view back over South Bay as I climb the walkway to the top of the sea cliffs.

From the lookout above South Bay the track crosses farmland until it reaches the edge of the cliffs on the ocean side of the peninsula. There are magnificent views out over the sea and down to the papa rock reefs below. A large seal colony rests in the sun on the rocks here with some snoozing the day away stretched out in amongst the overgrown grass above the beach. Some of the people walking along the track around the shoreline cross through the grass without realising that there are seals there. They move pretty quickly when a large brown 'slug' lifts it's head nearby.

I meet David about two thirds of the way along the top and we then retraced my steps for a short distance and descended the steep stairway down onto the beach below and walk back around the rocks, David crossing the same grassy seal track but being very cautious he doesn't stumble over one of those hidden seals. It is actually quite hard to see them down at ground level.

I walked around the edge of the rocks taking photos of the snoozing seals tucked into nooks and crannies and lolling over  the edge of the rocks close to the beach. They seemed totally oblivious to people passing by although I did see the odd eye open, scan & then shut again.

The only movement in the colony were these two young seals play-fighting and a wary guy watching from behind.

There was once a large colony of seals at Point Kean, they used to be everywhere, on the rocks, over the road, up the stairways, under the bushes and on the boardwalk but once again the 'quake has raised the seabed here and it seems that they have moved further south and joined up with the colony we've just passed.  Some have moved out to the edge of the reef at Point Kean and there are still three or four seals loyal to the carpark but nothing like it used to be when most of the car parks were taken up by seals.

But the saddest sight of all was the old nursery pond alongside the boardwalk. This was once teeming with seal pups, now it's an overgrown stagnant duck pond.

From Kaikoura we headed south aiming for Christchurch but only making it to Parnassus. Why the hurry we said.

The main road south of Kaikoura is also still under repair although they have done one heck of a lot of work since we last came through, when we did a loop from Hanmer Springs to check on progress. I bet not many people would be able to say they drove through one of the Raramai Tunnels the wrong way. The photo on the bottom right was from that loop trip, it looks like they have increased the height from 4.38 metres  to 4.6 metres and widen the mouth (it's still pretty tight though).

As we were driving through the Hunderlee Hills, I spotted a familiar looking rig, complete with bright coloured kayak on the roof, approaching us through a thicket of bare poplar trees. There was a lot of mad waving from both sides as we passed.  

We've often been in a similar area but usually one of us is leaving as the other is arriving. We did manage to meet at Omakau a long time ago & at Warbirds a little later on. Then there was the time we didn't realise we were together at Napier's Ericksen Road Park until one of us was pulling out the gate. A friendship made over the internet through a love of RVing and belonging to the same motorhoming forums and Facebook pages. After some frantic texting the bus turned around and that is how we found ourselves having a coffee and then happy hour at NZMCA Parnassus in the company of John & Lorraine. It was lovely that they turned around and great to catch up with them because it could be another 4 years before we see them again!

Sunset- Parnassus NZMCA Park

From Parnassus we headed straight through to NZMCA Weedons Park which is not far south of Christchurch city. We have stayed at Weedons on a regular basis over the years and it felt quite comforting arriving back there, a bit like coming home.

It's a pity the weather didn't get the memo we'd be arriving though (and we'd need some sun to ease us into a South Island winter).

I think we had one blue sky day (and that was on the day we were leaving) during the week we were there. And then one of our diesel heaters spat the dummy and had to be serviced which was probably just as well going by the extreme frosts we've been having since we left Christchurch.

Kaikoura Loop

Catch-up (July 28th, 2017)

While in Hanmer Springs we decided to do a day trip through to Kaikoura. Originally we were going to take the 5th-wheeler through and stay a few days after we left Christchurch but decided against it after checking the long range weather forecast- wet and miserable! 

Stop/Go on the Hundalees

Also both SH1, the coast road south (more slips), and the Inland Kaikoura Road (snow & flooding) had been closed several times during the two weeks before we left. And while we'd heard reports that the road was not too bad to tow over, we decided after driving it that it was a good decision not to take the van through there, as much as we wanted to support the local community for a few days.

Parititahi Tunnels

The decision to which way round we were going to drive to Kaikoura was made for us by the time we got to Waiau; the Inland Road was closed due to snow so we headed over Leader Road to the coast and exited onto the main highway just north of Parnassus.

Buckled road on the Hundalees

It had been raining on and off most of the way but it bucketed down over the Hundalees- a winding climb through the hills, with many road works and an undulating road surface, due to sections of it slumping away into a empty void or buckling, under the forces of the earthquake (above). I wonder who that wings (NZMCA) member is below?

The majority of the earthquake damage and consequently, the road and rail repairs south of Kaikoura are right on the coastline- there were over 25 large slips on the coast road between Oaro and Peketa. There's activity happening from all directions and angles with many Stop/Go sections.

We timed it just right, the weather cleared as we made our way through the busiest section of the coast road repairs. Excuse the quality of the photos; they were all taken through a dirty windscreen- I'd have loved to have stopped and got out to take photos- so many interesting shots!

We did pull into one of the rest areas near Goose Bay to check out the rocky coastline. It's very hard to get an idea of how much the seabed has been pushed up here due to the tide being on it's way out, but the bleached rocks and seaweed indicate where the new low tide zone is- this would have always been under water before (click photo to enlarge). The seabed rose up to two meters along the coast during the violent 7.8 earthquake.

A new species of Kaikoura crayfish? Or 'Orange is the new black'? High-vis orange was everywhere.

Many of the rock slides still had a fair bit of repairs to be done to stabilize them...

Steel poles, wire fences and rock cages didn't stand a chance against the forces of nature. 

Traffic lights controlled this section around a rocky point. I was wondering whether the portaloo was for passing people caught short or the construction crew....either way, imagine stepping out of there while everyone's lined up waiting for the lights to change- "Morning" he'd say as he stepped out re-arranging his hi-vis gear.

I wonder where this container came from (maybe caught in the earthquake while it was on a truck or train perhaps?) and it looks like that first blue container in the row of containers protecting the traffic from rock fall around the point did it's job.

It's not everyday you can drive the wrong way through a road tunnel on State Highway One.

These guys certainly earn their pay; hanging off rock walls and swinging about on the end of cranes high above the road. All in freezing temperatures with a negative wind chill factor blowing through too.

Our last Stop/Go, this one with her very own kiosk, tied down for good measure. The Stop/Go Operators were all very friendly, waving and smiling to every vehicle and having a chat if you were the first car in line. What a cold job though.

We drove through the township and around to the Esplanade to have lunch; the weather was closing in fast and it was very cold, not pleasant at all.

I'm sure there are now many more rocks sticking out of the water in the bay, although it's still hard to tell which ones are new because the tide was on it's way out.

After a quick lunch we drove out to Point Kean where you can definitely see the change even with the tide out; dried green seaweed stuck to parched rocks- the new exposed low tide zone would have once been always under water. 

High tide used to come just about to the edge of the carpark, where the brown seaweed line is above; the seals (spot the seal?) resting on the rocks between there and the tarseal. There are nowhere near the numbers of seals here today, they obviously have a lot more rocks to navigate to get to this area now.

The huge papa rock platform at Point Kean was always exposed at low tide but now the tide looks to be miles away from where it used to stop. The photo set below was from one of my previous blogs- you can see the raised papa rock above, lower right is the same one in the first photo below. And the bottom left photo below was taken at the same spot as the single photo above with the seal in it. 

We headed back through town, the weather had cleared off the mountains across the bay...

...but by the time we got around to South Bay- as you can see by the spots on my camera lens- the rain was torrential again. I took a quick photo of the construction work at Kaikoura Harbour- the seabed lifted so much here that the Whale Watch and other tourist boats have only been able to exit and enter at the top of the tide.

And further round at the Kaikoura Boating Club ramps the change is even more noticeable.

With the wet weather looking like it was in for the duration we headed off home, this time taking the Inland Kaikoura Road which was now open.

With quite a distance to travel we only stopped a couple of times; here on the edge of a steep cliff with no barrier (don't do that with kids in tow) overlooking the Conway River.

Much of this road has now been repaired following the 'quake, with just a few short sections with road work or speed restriction signs. 

We passed the grit spreading and grader truck exiting the area near Mt Lyford just as we drove into another snow covered landscape.     

We've yet to visit Mt Lyford (let alone see it- it's always cloudy when we drive past), we seem to always be driving past the end of the road after a long day exploring when all you want to do is get home; to eat, to warm up or to just have a lie down.

There was one last stop to take a photo of this very muddy waterway making it's way through the bare willows.

Total distance travelled- 275km
Hanmer Springs to Kaikoura via SH1 coast road - 145km
Kaikoura to Hanmer Springs via the Inland Kaikoura Road- 130km
And you'll notice on the map that the road is not marked between Oaro and Kaikoura- Google maps won't allow it as the road is currently closed for critical repair work, it should reopen again for weekend periods from September 14th onwards. Check the NZTA Road Status maps for updates.