Zigzagging

Hi everyone! First of all, sorry about the photos not showing up....we will try to get them back up when we have access to a computer that accepts discs (I still use my 35mm camera).
Okay...where have we been? So much comes jumbling in that I hardly know where to start....We decided to title this post "Zigzagging" because we left Nelson on the northern tip of the South Island after going to the public beach cafe for some bangers and mash and headed to Kaikoura on the East Coast- well-known for it's sea wildlife. Well, we got about 20 kilometers north of town following a twisty road heading south along the coast bordered by steep hillside on one side and rocky, craggy Pacific Ocean on the other...nearing dusk (it stays light here til 10:00 PM!) and, spotting some fur seals on the rocks, we pulled over to watch...the van engine died and we hopped out to check out the seals, me saying over my shoulder, "I hope it starts when we get back." It didn't. I flagged someone down passing by (actually, they were on their way BACK to Kaikoura for gas, realizing they didn't have enough to make it to the ferry in Picton- this is a fairly common dilemma here on the South Island-you can really get into places with where there is very little inbetween- I love it. That's basically, how we ended up here in Akoara, but, that's another story.) So, I borrowed their cell and called AA (as it is called here)- the guy on the phone asked me for landmarks and I told him "not much other than some seals and u bunch of rocks". For some reason, he thought it was hilarious that I called them a BUNCH of rocks....hmmm...so, I asked him what he would call it and he said, "a whole lot of rocks" (I was guessing he wouls say "heaps" of rocks as everything here seems to come in "heaps"ie: heaps of fun, heaps of dolphins....and, that's what we had in Kaikoura. We went on a whale watch and saw a sperm whale and went on a seal swim and I'll always have this image of a seal swimming right up to me and looking in my eyes. Funny their eyes look brown on shore, but, in the water, they looked blue. We did this in the open water and it was a blast. The other cool thing was the "Bull kelp"- HUGE! I've never seen seawood so big. It's a small town, so we were able to walk everywhere. For dinner at an outdoor cafe, the waitress asked me, "Would I like a whole crayfish or a half a crayfish?" Coming from a childhood in New Orleans, I was thinking,"What would I do with a half a crayfish? I ordered a whole and out came a "Rock Lobster". It was delicious...and, quite good value for the money(another famous saying here). Ezy Rentals sent uyp a new van for us from Christchurch and we headed over Lewis Pass, stopping at Hamner Springs for a soak in the Hot Springs (nice to be on the other side of the counter :) and spent the night there. Then, on to Fox River where I was given a tip to tramp (hike) up to Hanging Ballroom (THANKS, Matt Drexel). That 2 hour hike turned into an 8 hour hike as we made 13 river crossings to get there (we counted them on the way back!)-so, that makes 26 roundtrip. You get the picture. It was FABULOUS! The water was a CLEAR clear, blue, or green. We saw Wekas along the way (a flightless bird that resembles a chicken, only all brown- it does have tiny wings). Oh, and we went up to these caves along the way...one was open to the public and, fortunately, I had my headlamp (thanks, Dad, for your advice to always carry a headlamp, water, sunscreen, and bug repellent- I forgot the whistle) so we explored...very cool. We also came across a hunter at one of the river crossings ( he had a gun and 2 dogs with him) who was carrying 2 legs of something...I asked him what he had, and he said he'd killed 2 goats. He gave us some landmark tips to get to Hanging Ballroom as there is no trail to speak of (and, we'd been told that the river had changed course fairly recently, also).And, told us if we saw blood on the rocks, no worries, it wasn't a freshly murdered tramper-ha-ha. Thanks for that bit of info. He was quite friendly. We got up to this idyllic little spot with a pool and a rockface covered in moss. We hung out a bit and then, headed on...Mary had to turn back for her shoes (again, we've discovered that tramping consists of hiking boots AND Tevas (or Keens) and, then, we heard the "bleating" coming from upon the cliff. When we looked up, we were devastated to see what appeared to be a baby goat. Oh....it was just like "Bambi" and our hearts ached. We'd call to it and it would call back. After some deliberation, we went on and actually found Hanging Ballroom which is a huge rock overhang. We were grateful that we chose to do this as a dayhike because the sandflies were intense. (the right word is actually INTENSE). Mary discovered that across from here (after hearing what sounded like a train coming through), a section of the river just goes underground. So, heading back, we tried to coax the goat down, we tried to figure out a way to get up to it and get it down (picture JUNGLE on a CLIFF)...the Kiwis call it "bush". We got out my binoculars and saw it had horns and hoped it would be old enough to survive. A local couple we had tea with in their camper bus the next day were entertained by our attempts and assured us it would be fine. On to Punakiki and Pancake Rocks, over Arthur's Pass back to East Coast and now we're in the idyllic town of Akoroa- overlooking a volcanic crater that is filled with sea water and sailboats. We found the real Hobbiton yesterday. More on that later. Love you. Holly