Christmas in Kaikoura

Just days after we arrived in New Zealand a 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit the town of Kaikoura, NZ. Friends and family were concerned, but we were blissfully unaware in the northernmost part of the north island enjoying the start of our adventure. Kaikoura lies in the north eastern part of the south island; a part that we had not originally planned to visit.

The roads were closed for the next 6 weeks so there was no way into the town. Just days before we were to fly out of Christchurch to head to Australia, they opened two roads into Kaikoura. We really hadn’t been sure where we would be for Christmas and decided why not spend it in Kaikoura? We wanted to help them out anyway since they lost a lot of tourist income due to the quake. Also, we’ve never seen the aftermath of an earthquake so we were intrigued.

We are so glad we went because we loved it and it was one of the most beautiful towns we visited in NZ. We camped just south of Hanmer Springs the night before and headed to Kaikoura the morning of Christmas Eve. The drive is normally a couple of hours, but it took us at least three because we stopped to take pictures of the road damage and landscape changes. Also, we had to go slow around some of the changed road patterns. At one place they actually built a whole bridge! We were amazed at how much work they completed in just 6 weeks. Impressive.

As we approached we saw snow covered mountain tops in the distance and wondered if we would be able to see them from the town. We came over a hill into Kaikoura and were met with the most incredible view of gorgeous blue ocean juxtaposed with snowcapped mountains in the background. Breathtaking. We couldn’t believe we almost missed coming here.

We explored the waterfront and saw seals. Amazingly the sea floor raised 17 feet from the quake and the smell of the dying seaweed was awful. We walked around town, shopped and ate sushi. Several shops were closed and there weren’t a whole lot of people there even though it was their peak season. We visited a lavender farm which was amazing and inspired me to grow my own lavender farm.

Then we drove as far north on Route 1 above town as we could before we were told to turn around because of the continued road work.. We could see some of the landslides in the distance which had closed the road and even derailed the train tracks.

We visited a gorgeous lavender farm and there was a dog there that looked like a white Abby. Just as sweet too. Dave and I saw her separately and both petted her and cried. We didn’t realize until we were leaving that we’d both had the same reaction. We sure do miss our furry babies.

We turned off onto a little beach access road which turned out to have probably a mile stretch of free camping along the beach! Jackpot. We set up there for the night. We noticed a short way up the road there seemed to be a surfer bar or bbq party of some sort and thought we would check it out. It turned out to be a local get together and they warmly welcomed us to join them even though we didn’t know anyone. We met several people who shared about their experience of the earthquake which we found exciting. Everyone was so warm and friendly. They had two small fires, a girl singing and playing guitar, lots of food and drink, and marshmallows roasting. Kids and dogs were running around playing. There were big cushions lying around. People had brought campers and tents to stay the night. It was very cool to get to experience a true local hangout like this. It was a bit odd to us though to realize the kids were not concerned about sleeping at home and running to see what is under the tree on Christmas morning. We were thankful to to be a part of it all.

The next day we found a local church to attend Christmas service. Turned out to be the first service the church had been cleared to have since the earthquake. It was a combined service of two churches. There were some young missionaries there from around the world who focus on witnessing to the backpacker population, and they did a little skit as part of the service. We were excited to run into a few more Americans there, and then to find out the church was hosting an outdoor lunch for anyone who wanted to come.

We were thrilled to be able to spend Christmas with brothers and sisters in Christ since we would not be able to spend it with family back home. It was such a cool experience. The food was great and we met several new friends. They invited us to hang out again on Tuesday, but we were going to be headed to Christchurch by that time.

Between the church service and lunch, Dave and I were able to video chat with my family who gets together on Christmas Eve (NZ is a day ahead). So even though we couldn’t be there we still felt like we were part of the happenings. It turned out to be a great weekend in Kaikoura. There is so much more I could write about the weekend, but I have already written so much now.