Adult Under Construction: Bringin' it Back Home (for a bit)

It was about the time of this post, as I was passing through Christchurch for the first time, that I received one of the most important phone calls I will ever hear: my brother had asked his girlfriend to marry him, and she had said yes. Aside from the obvious excitement, this meant planning a return to North America sooner rather than later. In early May, I wrapped up work in Arthur's Pass with plans to return, and headed off to Auckland to fly back across the Pacific.

But Auckland is a long way from Arthur's Pass, and I was not tempted to add one more flight to an already arduous itinerary. So when I came down from the mountains, the wedding was still two weeks off and I was on my way to Hanmer Springs, Kaikoura, and Wellington.

Hanmer Springs is nestled in the Southern Alps about four hours north of Arthur's Pass by road. I hadn't heard much about it before I went, but I knew it had hot springs and that was enough to draw me in for a day or two. What I did not realize is how much of a resort town it is. Popularized as an alpine retreat, it is a pretty common getaway for those Cantabrians who can afford it, as evidenced by the quantity of families I saw there. Coming by myself from Arthur's Pass, where five people are a crowd, I didn't mind being around some extra people. But being surrounded by visitors made the place feel a bit disposable. While at one of the bars watching rugby, a group of young women in costumes arrived. I exchanged guesses with the people I was chatting to about the occasion – bachelorette party was the consensus – and then learned it was a local girls' night out. The idea of “locals” in Hanmer Springs had never even crossed my mind. It's a place that thrives on short visits, which, in retrospect, makes me feel normal.

Kaikoura is a place I was far more excited about visiting, and with nothing holding me in Hanmer – not even one of the costumed locals – I hitched my way there fairly quickly. I had passed through on the train in November, but I had heard far too many good things about it to be satisfied with a glimpse out the window. Its location alone is a marvel: the Kaikoura ranges are almost directly on top of the Pacific Ocean and the ocean floor, so I'm told, drops quickly from the Kaikoura peninsula, creating a fruitful habitat and an eco-tourist magnet. I was lucky enough to be there during the slow season, when there are fewer tour buses and ample hostel beds available.

Despite living on an island, it had been a while since I'd seen the ocean, and I was eager to walk around the Kaikoura Peninsula. I was also lucky enough to do so on a sunny day. As I headed out along the peninsular road, the number of houses steadily dropped and the amount of wildlife increased. There is a well-advertised seal colony near the end of the peninsula, but before I was halfway there, I had already seen a colony of Hutton's shearwaters, a seabird that is endemic to New Zealand – in fact, endemic to the Kaikoura region. Once the town had been left behind a turn, I passed remnants of old whaling stations before reaching a boardwalk along the shore, leading to the seal colony. There had already been signs warning pedestrians to keep a safe distance from the seals, but I was surprised to find that the seals did not obey them. Had I not been on a boardwalk, I might have trodden on one as it lay in the bush along the shoreline.

The seal colony was the end of the road, so I continued on the trail which went up to the cliffs above, overlooking the ocean. Once again, I decided that I will need to create new words for “scenic,” because the view was staggering. Looking down from above on the clear water allowed me to get a sense of the ocean floor that I had read about, and gave me a view of a seal colony that is not advertised. I could see rain coming on, however, and did not stop to enjoy the view for too long.

The following morning, I hitched out of Kaikoura after a long walk to the edge of town, and made my way to Picton. I stayed there for the night and caught an early ferry to Wellington, where I stayed for five days, catching up with friends and running some errands. Before long, I was on a bus to Auckland, where I began my long series of flights back to the United States.