Day 7 Kaikoura, here we come... or do we?

Melissa here taking over. =)

Today's another travelling day. We have to drive nearly all the way back to Picton (2 hours) and along the coast for another 2 hours to Kaikoura. The name's supposed to mean 'kai' for food and 'koura' for crayfish. So we're hoping to find some grubbin' crayfish to eat.

The day started out a little rainly. Not the whole lot of stinking rain, but more like the light Seattle rain. So back on the road to Hana gain. My cerebral fluid couldn't handle it as well this time. Since we didn't have breakfast yet, we stopped off in a town outside of Picton called Blenheim. We stop at yet another cafe. (I guess they really like their coffee and pastries here.) I think it was the Home and Garden Cafe. Lots of plants and stuff, like a garden. I had a stuffed potato and Chris had a "sausage roll." Mine was okay. It wasn't exactly what I expected. I was thinking it was more like a twice baked potato, but it had onions and corn and other stuff in it. Eh.. Chris' looked like meat in a pastry. "All I can say about the thing is, NEVER AGAIN. It tasted okay for the first couple of bites. After that, it started to taste like an old pig in a blaket. Bleh."

The idiot light came on after breakfast so we decided to get gas. We were about We didn't know how long it would take before we were totally out of gas. Our cars back home usually have about 1 or 2 gallons left when the light turns on. This one got us about 5 blocks then a buzzer went off. Luckily we were at the 'petrol' station by then. We learned from last time to let the attendant pump the gas for us. No window cleaning this time, since it was raining and all. $65 worth of gas!!!?!?!?!? *sigh* We're making sure to leave the car on fumes when we turn it in this time.

On we go. About 1.5 more hours of driving before Kaikoura. Another hour passed by of a mix of straight aways and switchbacks and my head was taking a beating. So, Chris realizing this, stopped off at a rest stop (rest stop = picnic area) off the coast. It just so happens that there was a seal colony at this rest stop!!! They were all resting on the rocks just off the beach. One, however, decided that he wanted to hang out closer to the humans, on the grassy area near the 'car park'. (car park = parking lot) We took a bunch of pictures with him. He had an itch. =) The break really helped my head. And we were on our way.

On our arrival at the Waves of Esplanade hotel, we encountered a familiar, but unwelcome, problem. Our reservations were once again CANCELLED by Mitchell Corp. This was the NZ agency used by the US travel agency that our travel agent booked our hotels with. Some guy named Nigel emailed Mitchell to cancel these 2 hotels. WTF???!?!?! Who is this guy and why is he cancelling our hotels?????

By now its totally raining and the lady at the hotel desk is trying her best to talk to Mitchell Corp to explain that they're booked and can't give us a room. "The whole city is booked for the weekend." *deep breath* She said not to worry and this company only books hotels so they'll find us somewhere to stay. Just to get a coffee at the cafe next door and come back in a few and she'll handle it. So we do. We leave, drink coffee, come back. "What did you find?" She calls them back and they finally found us a room in Hanmer Springs. Its a thermal reserve about an hour away. We planned on going there tomorrow so it was a good place to stay.

Dispite our initial frustration, the Heritage Hotel was quite an upgrade. So I guess it makes up for their massive mixup. After driving another hour and a half, we get there. Still raining. By now its about 4:30pm. It turns out that the room they gave us was like a private cottage type room. Very nice. =) They even have towel heaters. Very cool.... or hot. ^_^

Since its still early, we call the front desk to book us one of the private pools at the Hanmer Springs Thermal Reserve. Its kinda like Sycamore in Avila Beach near SLO. They also have the heated pools outside, but this one has a river looking thing too. Even though it was slightly raining, we hang out at the pools for a few hours before finding dinner.

We ate at one of the only places open on this 4 block town. It was called Robbies bar and bistro. I had more fried seafood and a salad. (I should really stop eating so much fried stuff.) Chris had the Valentine's Special, lamb with a glass of merlot. It was yummy.

Back to the newest temporary home for the night. Since we planned on going here tomorrow and we saved some time travelling, we figured we'd sleep in tomorrow. Finally, we get to sleep in.

Wiper count: 33 and 1 (Thanks, Chris, for doing all the driving.)

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!!

Christchurch is due for tomorrow.