Picton and Kaikoura...

These were two very small towns on the South Island that we mostly just stopped in, slept, and left. But a few interesting things happened. In order to get to Picton from Wellington we had to take a ferry from the North Island (Wellington) to the South Island (Picton). We heard from a lot of people that the ferry ride can be very rough and lot's of people get seasick but luckily nobody from our group had to suffer through that. It was quite a peaceful ride and took about 3 hours total. So then we arrived in Picton, slept, woke up and moved on to Kaikoura.

View of Picton from the ferry.

Kaikoura is a small coastal town that is actually known for whale and dolphin watching but unfortunately it was quite rainy when we were there so we didn't get to stop and see any of those. We did get to spend a little time on the beach and see some seals however. There was a little turn off the road that we stopped at and their were tons of seals and baby ones too. All the little babies would hang out around this one rock that had a small tide pool made and they'd hop in it and swim around. It was very cute. Then we went down to another beach and wandered around some tide pools and saw a cool starfish!

And another seal that actually let you get quite close to him. I tried to get a little to close to him however and he hissed at me like a cat before waddling away. I didn't get to close anymore after that.

The hissing seal.

The other thing that we did in Kaikoura was stopped at a Jade Jewelry store. The big thing to give in New Zealand as a gift is New Zealand jade that is carved into various Maori symbols. The Maori's have various symbols that they carve into the jade that mean various things such as friendship, and unity. Something interesting about it is that they believe that you shouldn't buy one for yourself but you should only give or receive them as a gift from someone else. They're quite expensive though so don't be expecting them as a souvenir! We stopped at a store run by a guy named Jeremy who finds all the stones himself (you find them on the beach) and carved most of them. It was very neat to see his work, because they are truly pieces of art.

This is just an example of one of the necklaces Jeremy has carved and what a traditional green stone (as they are called) looks like.