The SIR EDMUND HILLARY EXPLORER TOUR APRIL 2023 Sunday 16th April, Kaikoura - Christchurch
This day included a paid options for whale watching by air or on a boat. It seems there were no whales seen. The rest of the tour group took some coaches that drove back up the coast to where we had rattled through on the railway tracks the day before, for some seal watching. It was a mean wind and Denise (one of the Tour Group staff) offered to photograph us as a family group at the seal watching barrier.
Sadly for me I got chatting to a fellow traveler, currently living in Wellington but had, in the past, worked in the South Island and knew this area from around the time of the Kaikoura Earthquake, then we got onto infrastructure in Wellington and how in the past, the Upper Hutt was well looked after but over time, with changes in management styles the water pipes in greater Wellington were in dire need of upgrading. Interesting conversation but it meant I had stopped noticing what the seals were doing. Barb later said the seal watching was best part of the tour for her and I had to ask Cody to share one of his clips - one of the pups suckling milk off its mother and getting a motherly flipper slap. Perhaps a link to Facebook might work
placement marker if I get a copy of the video to insert - ding ding.
For the next leg of our journey, through to Christchurch, we were to be hauled by a 1950's diesel locomotive at the head of the train with the steam locomotive tucked in behind.
I was taken with the involuntary reaction of the woman on platform as the train got closer and she made those little steps backward.
Instructions for Day 2: included 10:45 Board train at Kaikoura Railway Station. 11:00 Train departs Kaikoura. Collect picnic lunches on board the train. With Jeantine being 'Pescetarianism' she didn't want any meat but where the lunches were all vegetarian, she didn't need a 'dietary specific' option, nor for any gluten free options.
There we were comfortably seated inside our carriage and somehow the conversation took us to remembering the Crunchy Bar Kid TV commercials in an old carriage similar to what we were sitting in
Somewhere along our journey to Christchurch we would be stopping to disconnect from the AB 608 Passchendaele Steam Locomotive (which was coupled just behind the Diesel Locomotive). This stop was also great for the 'Train Spotters' who were following our trip. Geo location suggests near Waipara School and the Weka Pass Railway Inc building. As we were pulling into this stop, I moved with Cody and few others to the front carriage, just behind the Steam Locomotive
After this uncoupling it was onto to Christchurch. I was checking Google Maps to see where I might've have been on the roads when traveling back to Christchurch Airport from Blenheim. I remember from that time using my iPhone map system to keep track of where we needed to go to get to the airport but, my battery level was running low and I said to Robert and Jocelyn we needed to use road signs as I need my airline ticket on my iPhone to board the plane. Road signs were no problem in getting us the Rental Car Drop-off at the airport and my battery power was toppped up a little at the refreshment seating area with charging facilities.
For this trip we were scheduled to arrive at Addington Railway station around 3:30 and we were taken by Coach to the Commodore Hotel for check-in. 4:45pm boarding of Coaches into the city and (now the screen is obscured so I can't see what I am typing. so how an I going in sert the images I want of of the cathedral and of our twilight journey.
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