The northwest coast of the South Island is stunningly beautiful. It was an easy drive and I advanced fast.

At first the landscape was surprisingly dry. Hills with yellow gras fields, all dry and mowed down by the countless sheep… only a couple of trees or smaller forests.

Then: wine country. Vineries galore and endless vineyards. Marlborough is famous for its wine, even though it was only relatively recent that they discovered how ideal it is for wine, in the 1970s. Since then New Zealand has developed a whole new side of its agriculture.

Further south, the road finally hit the beach. Endless beaches, practically no towns, only a couple of farms, and the Picton-Christchurch coastal railway accompanying me all along the way. This would have been a nice alternative to the car!

The beaches: stunning: huge waves, however only a few surfers, closer to Kaikoura. Maybe the currents are too strong further up, or there is simply no one who would drive that far…

I stopped a couple of times and walked on the beach: to my surprise it was stones and gravel, in all different sizes, from hand sized stones to tiny, round gravel, perfect for any garden. Although: no sand.

I wonder how long it takes for a beach to become sand, and it it depends whether its the shells of mussels or stones that are ground to pieces… Another question for wikipedia.

Not far from Kaikoura: a rugged beach with hundreds of New Zealand fur seal pups and their moms. While the females were dozing on the rocks, their offspring was busy having fun in the tide pools, hopping up and down the rocks in formation and chasing each other.

The South Island’s first settles were big into whaling and hunting seals. The seals were protected relatively early though, already at the end of the 19th century New Zealand limited the number that could be caught and restricted the clubbing times.

Today about 100 000 seals live in the area, but still a long shot from the estimated million before the Europeans arrived.

I checked into my Kairkoura home for one night and then went to the beach again, and visited the Kaikoura peninsula, a stretch of land reaching out into the ocean.

The peninsula is being lifted upwards every year – as is the mountain range behind Kaikoura, up to a centimeter a year (erosion however keeps its height at about the same level though).

The peninsula was once site of several Māori Pā, their fortified villages. You can still see the terraces on the hills where the Pā once stood, overlooking the ocean. On a clear day you can see as far as the North Island – and ideal spot to watch out for newcomers, enemies, etc…

The best feature of the peninsula however is the newly rising seabed, that is now exposed during low tide, and where you can study all sorts of rock formations and deformations that are created by the lifting of the land.

All this at sunset was perfect for photography. Another day with an estimated 3 GB of new data….