What to do in Kaikōura and Hanmer Springs?
With my first few days in the South Island being in the small town of Picton, filled with more activities and memories, I moved on towards the city of Christchurch, without, of course, not exploring more of what this beautiful Island has to offer, which, is nothing but amazing views everywhere you drive, from coastal to mountain, you will be treated with a beautiful drive. The next stop on my journey was getting up early on Saturday to head to Kaikōura, another small town on the coast, to go out and do some whale watching, one of the various activities you can do here, which was quite exciting.
A 2-hour drive from Picton, all you need to do is drive along Highway 1 towards Blenheim, the road continues for another 150km until you reach Kaikōura, which is nothing but the coast, open water and road, making it for one of the best aspects of the drive, quite lovely to see first in the morning, that makes for a great spectacle before doing an activity.
Now, while I went on this tour with the lovely people at Whale Watch Kaikōura, there is a clause on their website worth quoting, which states “a 95% success rate with viewing whales and a Guarantee 80% refund if your tour doesn’t see whales”. This means you will more likely than not be able to witness Whales while you’re out on the ocean, though it is dependent on the time of year, the whales’ movements and other factors, which brings us to the point that, unfortunately for our tour, we did not get to witness any whales which was unlucky. Although we did get to see a pod of dolphins, as shown above, so it did make up for it a little bit, but these things do happen, so be mindful of this too if you do indeed intend to go on and do this tour if you decided to stop off at Kaikōura on any point in your road trip.
While it was disappointing not being able to see the humpbacks, there are seals to see, cafes to go to and more importantly, if you want to stay at a nice place for the night, Kaikoura Peketa Beach Holiday Park is a lovely beachside campsite, though is paid, so for $25 a night, you can get a cool sea breeze and ocean views, before heading out towards your next destination. Speaking of which, after my day was done in Kaikōura, the next morning saw me head in the direction of Hanmer Springs, an almost 2-hour drive from the Whale Watch sight. Another thing to address is the drives in the South Island are long, mainly due to the zig-zagging between Mountains you’ll encounter, so be mindful that the roads are long and windy, so everything is a + X amount of time on the road!
Hanmer Spring Thermal Pools
I went to the lavish hot springs, and for $39, you too can experience this nice little hot spring, which is full of different types of pools, varying in temperature, and even slides, making for a fun day out. Unfortunately for me, the weather was not kind, raining for most of the day, so I was only able to do this one activity, being one of the main things to do in this small, quiet town. Another thing to mention is how bad the weather in the South Island could be, especially in the West Coast region.
Travelling in the region can get quite wet and make it challenging to travel and explore places, with an average of 600 to 1600mm of rain falling over the year on the South Island. While on my trip to the West Coast, Queenstown experienced 1 month’s worth of rain in 2 days, equating to 20,000 worth of debris being cleaned off the highway. A section of State Highway 8 had to be closed, causing big restructures in my travel routes. This can happen anytime so stay up-to-date with the local weather reports.
Colonial Hill Loop Track
(The view from Conical Hill Loop Track)
Apart from the weather, my stay in Hanmer Springs ended with a lovely morning hike around Conical Hill Loop track, which isn’t too long, only 2 hours, which gives you a beautiful view of the landscape from above. Then, it was onwards to Christchurch, where, for a few days, I saw another different array of activities, which will be discussed more in my next edition of On the Road.
It was only a few day, but there was enough action and fun that made the time fly by, which with only 3 weeks spent in the South Island for me, was enough and I am enjoying what the South island has produced so far.
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