So many names here in New Zealand remind me of Britain, of course. I understand the settlers wanted to remember the home they left, but it’s also somewhat weird. I can’t really think that they were reminded by the landscape…? With those high mountains?

I drove from Kaikoura to Christchurch today, taking the scenic Alpine Pacific Triangle route, not the coastal road.

It was starting to rain when I left Kaikoura, so I skipped the whale watching. It was out of my budget anyway, and I have seen some in Iceland already. I also skipped the walk around the Kaikpoura peninsula I had in mind, and started to drive right away.

The mountain road was impressive, especially the first part from Kaikoura to Waiau, where I could not drive very fast and you could get seasick from the curves.

But the views on the mountain ranges were definitely worth it. In between some large plains, with rivers running through…

You wouldn’t be surprised to see some Lord of the Rings guys hunting some Orks on horses or something…

It even cleared up, and I drove most of it in sunshine… until, shortly before Christchurch, the sky became pitch-black and I drove into a massive thunderstorm, including hail…

So much rain coming from all sides, we actually and to stop on the highway, you could hardly see more than a few meters.