It was a Tuesday like any other, except that it was a field trip day and that no one has any classes on Wednesday. Thus, a particular group of people, 5 to be exact, decided at dinner (at 6:30 pm) that they were going to take a spontaneous trip. So by 7:30 pm we loaded up the car and headed off to Kaikoura a mere 2 hours away.

Being well aware that the best part of heading to Kaikoura was the drive to the town, so we thought it best stop and camp somewhere outside of the area so we could get the full experience in the sunlight. Our token kiwi Claire, our RA, knew just the place. That happened to be Gore Bay, some 30 minutes outside of Kaikoura. With a little difficulty we managed to find a legal spot to camp on a bluff above the beach. It was less then fun pitching the tent in the rain and cold, it was surprisingly comfortable to pile into a 3 person tent. We spent the night talking and eating snacks until we fall fell asleep…

And woke up to this lovely sight first thing in the morning.

It was completely breath taking and we were lucky to find such a great place to watch the sun rise. We hung out for a while on the sands of Gore Bay while the outside of our tent dried. We found a crab which we dubbed Mr. Krabs (from Spongbob) and drew him a house in the sand.

We also took some token jumping pictures and lazed in the sun until we decided to head the rest of the way to Kaikoura.

The drive was just as beautiful as we had hoped. On one side of the road are hills but to the other is nothing but the purest blue water.

Once in town we filled out bellies with breakfast and ducked into a few shops for fun we headed down to the water. It was a little rockier and less sand so we spelled things with the white rocks we found and watched the tide come in.

One of the coolest parts had to be on our way home. We wanted to stop and take pictures of the view from the road and maybe find some seals. Of course we were lucky enough to do just that. We found several seals lounging about on rocks sunning themselves and got some pretty nice shots of them. They were rather interested in us as well. 

Despite the chilly air it was such a good time. In order to have the most fun sometimes you just have to go with the moment.

Until next time, cheers. 

Location: Kaikoura, New Zealand