Hawkes Bay NZ Water trail

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Kaikoura and Notes on Natural Selection

It's time to move on, so I left Nelson yesterday, riding the Inter-City bus to Blenheim, and then changing to the Christchurch run, which dropped me in Kaikoura [kai=food, koura=crayfish], a little town that's making it big based on its location next to a deep sea trench, where whales like to hang out. This place has it all: swim with the seals, swim with the dolphins, helicopter view the whales, learn to surf, dive for paua (abalone).

The ride from Nelson through the famous and very extensive Malborough wine region was a little stomach-churning, given the fact that the day's bus driver had the proverbial "lead foot" and really enjoyed zipping in and out of the curves on the very windy road over two not so small inclines. I almost lost my lunch during this ride. Luckily, I have a variety of plastic bags in my jacket pocket just in case.

Don't know why, but after the change in Blenheim, I hit the jackpot. got to sit in the only empty seat behind "Mr Stink Pot" a strange young guy in filthy clothes, even down to the soles of his sneakers. I actually sat in the seat with my bike jacket over my nose as the stench was so bad.

Still, despite the dubious value of this fellow passenger, I couldn't help but notice the incredible scenery down the coast, with the Kaikoura seaward mountains on one side, and the black sand, crashing surf and seal colonies on the other. The mountains are snow free, and a little hazy, but they are beyond spectacular.

This section of the East Coast is known to cyclists for 2 things:
1) Spectacular scenery
2) Truck infestation + dangerous drivers

Back in Nelson earlier this week I was reading the Christchurch newspaper. There in the news was a spectacular photo of a delivery truck crushed on the rocks of, you guessed it, the Kaikoura coast, with a load of 2 x 4 planks scattered down the rocks like so many matchsticks. Unbelievably, the driver lived, due to early intervention by a couple of American tourists who happened to be nearby.

Now, I do wonder how hard you have to try to be this stupid on this road. It is narrow, winding, no shoulders, and there's huge amounts of major road work just outside Kaikoura. I remember a lot more one-lane bridges in this section from when I was last here in 2003, but I think they're disappearing. The roadwork, I guess.

The owner of the backpacker where I'm staying tells me it's also dangerous to ride the highway south of Kaikoura [sigh]. He's done volunteer ambulance work apparently, so likely this is a rational statement. I'd really like to ride part or all of the way to Cheviot, but, again, I will need to be alert to fools.

No pictures with this blog post, courtesy to Mr Stink Pot. I was too nauseated to pull the camera out and try to get photos. But I will likely ride William the Conqueror part way back up the highway, at least as far as the female seal and pup colony we passed, and compensate.

I visited the I-site yesterday, and picked up a great looking booklet, called "Chill" which has something to do with cycling. Unfortunately, it does seem exclusively devoted to mountain biking, despite the "share the road" advertisement inside the front cover.

I will not be deterred, however. I rode William a little way through town yesterday evening, towards the male seal colony. Yes, apparently they do segregate except during mating season. Perhaps the males seals, like the kiwi truck drivers, also act like idiots when traveling. Perhaps they dash themselves on large rocks, choke themselves with long strands of kelp, dive off ridiculously high cliffs, etc., in order to attract a mate.

Honestly, I'm surprised there are still lunatics out there, as surely I'd have thought these kiwi drivers have taken themselves "out of the gene pool" early, prior to procreating?

Survival of the fittest?!

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