As an Antarctic front approached, we had
to rush to Kaikoura to beat the snow. We were not completely successful,
as we crossed Lewis Pass under the biggest snowflakes we had seen so far - but
at least, we crossed before the road closed a few hours later. Once
across, we decided to stop in Hanmer Springs - it was NECESSARY. I
mean - how could we skip hot springs on a cold winter day? (You probably
already noticed the high correlation between our destinations and the
presence of hot springs/onsen and/or French bakeries.)
Following a good hot soak, we drove well into
the night under the rain and along the very windy roads to
Kaikoura. Finally, we arrived at a nice little 100 year old hotel where we
were the only guests and had the whole floor to ourselves.
By the next morning the storm was in full
force. We stayed in the hotel for a good part of the day and at some point ventured
into wind and rain to see a bit of the town. By evening, the city had lost
power and our first thought was: "We really hope our hotel cooks with gas
so we can have lobster for dinner". They did, and we had a
fantastic dinner, sampling beer and ciders from the local breweries.
New Zealand is nice!
The next morning, the storm broke, and we had a brief glimpse of just
how pretty the town and surrounding area must be on a clear day.
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