Day 17: Ferry to the South, Snowcapped Mountains & Sunsets

Thursday, September 12th

Up before the sun. We make some cold brew coffee, shower, and head to the ferry.

We are taking the Interislander Ferry that goes from Wellington to Picton. You have to arrive over an hour early to check-in. We leave at 8:45AM. It’s a 3.5 hour ride. I packed us food in our backpacks, because you can’t enter your vehicle once you take off, and we like having our own snacks on hand.

The check-in procedure was a peice of cake. Driving onto the ferry was effortless and so cool. It has a comfortable seating area, plenty of room, an entire dining area, gift shop, etc.

We visit with a couple next to us who we’ve seen around town in their campervan. They’re a lovely couple from Canada, traveling with their 5 month old daughter. I’ve seen many posts about traveling with babies and know that my parents did it, but it’s cool to witness it being done with such ease. They have been all over the world, so they were able to give us some good travel tips.

We book our campsite as we are on the ferry. We are heading to another top 10 Holiday park in Kaikoura. It’s only a 2 hour drive from Picton, because we want to get some steps in and enjoy the daylight.

Right as we arrive, it took us no time to get off the ferry and on our way.

The drive in is incredible. Right as we have a great view of the snow capped mountains, we find a pullover to stop and take photos. We were very careful (trust me, Christopher never even lets me get close to an edge he always gets so worried about me and cares for my safety so much) we ran into the middle of the road (plus there’s hardly any traffic here) to take some amazing shots.

 

We then start to see seals. This is right near Oahu point lookout. It was another incredible view. They are EVERYWHERE. It was INSANE! Huge ones and little babies. We find another pullover spot and snag some photos. Of course we turn the corner and find a place where we can actually walk down and get close. This was such a blast.

The drive along the water was unreal. There was also a train track right next to the highway the entire way. There were even little tunnels going through the mountains for the train. It’s so wild to think about all the engineering that went into designing all of these roads and tracks.

After plenty of stops, we arrive to Kaikoura Top 10 Holiday Park! I’m sure you see the pattern by now ;) Hey, we’re just trying to get our membership discount! I can’t remember if I mentioned this yet, but it was only $55 NZD, and you get 10% off all your bookings and 15% off the Interislander ferry. So we got our money back plus saved an additional $40+ just by the ferry booking alone! If you know me, you know I love a bargain! Anyways… back to the campground. It has a better view than we even imagined. The photos in the reviews didn’t do it any justice. The snow capped mountains are right behind us. Beyond blessed. There are no words.

We are right on a little peninsula here, so we go on a little drive to get out and explore. We end up stopping in the small town to go through all the cute little shops, and then we get to an amazing “pancake rock” area with the mountains in the background. We end up having a full blown photo shoot in the back of the campervan with it all opened up. This was endless laughter. We were just goofing off and being silly, but also getting some incredible content. Stay tuned on the gram, it’ll definitely make you laugh.

We hike up to the Point Kean Viewpoint at the end of the Kaikoura Peninsula. It was probably the best view yet, and a VERY short hike up. We got to watch the sunset over the mountains. The snow capped mountains then turned pink, as the sun sunk down into them. Magical is an understatement. I still can’t believe this is real life. I am seeing it all with my own eyes, yet I still can’t wrap my mind around all the beauty in this earth that God created. We are beyond blessed to be able to have our health and our freedom to go out and adventure this world.

We make our way back to the campsite, but we swing by the grocery, The New World, to pick up some wine, water, and a few other things. We love our New Zealand white wines (it’s all we drink back home) so we have been having fun buying it here. It’s cheaper since we are drinking “local” ;) We even passed by a vineyard today from a bottle we’ve had back home!

Christopher eats another steak pie for dinner, a noodle cup, and I make egg whites, a salad, and we both have some bread with Nutella. We love our sweet treats. It’s all about BALANCE! I could eat salad and lean meats just so I could have dessert every single day for the rest of my life.

I am a crazy lady and I have been doing bands in the campervan as I journal. I just wrap the small loop bands around my legs and do back kicks, side kicks, and walk front to back. I did a bunch of shoulder work as well. Mission is to maintain my muscle and stay fit on this trip! The world is your treadmill, so get out and explore. BUT, strength training is important too, so this is why resistance band training or simply body weight is important too! You don’t need a gym to be healthy and fit! I have been coaching/training since 2016 and an athlete my entire life, and I’ll tell you time and time again that exercise is FREE. Just like exercising at the pinnacles with rocks..if there’s a will, there’s a way. Do what you can with what you’ve got! P.s. I exercise for my sanity just as much as my physical health. LOL. Healthy living = Happy living.

Time to wrap this up. Nighty night!

P.s. My highlight was the seals and the snow capped Mountain View’s, & Christopher’s highlight was doing a photo shoot at our “campsite” ;)