Kunkels in Kaikoura: the End of the Line

NZ Family Adventures: Days 18-19

I wake up on day 18. There’s a horrible little thought in my head.

Abel Tasman was such a world of it’s own that there was no room for intruding thoughts. But Abel Tasman is now behind me, and there is that horrible little thought growing bigger and bolder…

Two days. Two more days. Only two days. Two days left.

…until my visitors leave.

How could seventeen days have passed so quickly? It seems like only yesterday that we were taking photos of Mount Cook and eating cherries while driving through the Kawarau Gorge.

They can’t possibly leave me yet. There’s so many things I haven’t told them. So many places we haven’t stopped. So much food still to try. So many hugs to make up for the seven and half months without them.

Needless to say, I’m feeling sad. I’ve been in such denial that I haven’t even figured out where I’m going to stay after my parents leave. But that’s a problem for tomorrow.

We’re in Nelson right now, and we have to get to Kaikoura. It’s a four hour drive, and we’d all rather just get there already. So we grab pastries and coffee and stop at the Japanese Gardens just outside of Nelson to scarf down our food and do a little wander to encourage digestion and admire the garden. And then we’re on the road.

We zoom through the mountains with such efficiency that we’re fifteen minutes early. Moa Brewery outside of Blenheim, which I’ve been intending to take my parents too since I first drove by the sign in September, doesn’t open until noon. Rather than kill time in the car, Dad discovers that the Marlborough Farmers Market is going on and it ends at noon. We drive the eight minutes and arrive in time to buy amazing peaches, the best plums I’ve ever had, and a giant bag of fresh-picked blueberries. Bliss.

Zooming back to Moa Brewery, we get the boys another brewery t-shirt (Mike’s up to four now) and enjoy yummy Asian food from a food truck. I’m starting to cheer up. A yummy almond croissant in Nelson, the best plums I’ve ever had, and a good Asian meal with the all-too-familiar brewery vibes that characterize every weekend in Colorado means that I don’t feel like my parents are slipping away from me just yet.

Besides, there’s something I am really excited for in Kaikoura. Well, someone. Someones.

In August, I stayed with Jacky and Bruce in Whiritoa for 28 days. And we became friends. Then, I saw them in Blenheim in November, where Jacky’s brother and his wife, and Jacky’s mom were just as quick to welcome me. I visited Jacky and Bruce in Whiritoa for five days over New Years (and Jacky’s mom was also there). So, basically, we’re family now.

While I was with Jacky and Bruce over New Years, we all expressed regret that my parents were only going to be on the South Island and therefore couldn’t go to the Coromandel to meet my New Zealand family.

But Jacky and Bruce decided to take their motorhome across the North Island, across the ferry, and down the coast to Kaikoura so they could meet my parents and hang out with us for two days. I am so excited to see them and for important people in my life to meet each other.

So, when we arrive in Kaikoura, my parents and I walk into town to meet Jacky and Bruce. And it’s wonderful. They get on just as I’d suspected and I’m happy to see my New Zealand family again. (Though terrible at capturing the fun with photos. Boo!)

Mike and Sandee, who’d planned to do their own thing for dinner, wander into the same bar we’re at, so we all hang out together for a while. We split up for dinner, Mike and Sandee heading off and the five of us staying at The Whaler. It’s not a late night because we have plans for the morning.

So, the morning…

Dad texts everyone with the plan to meet “right here, at the encounter cafe.” So my parents and I head across the street to the Encounter Cafe while Mike and Sandee wait “right here” in the lobby. So that’s the last time we let my dad communicate the plan!

Eventually we all end up in the same area, grab some breakfast, and then drive to the South Bay Marina just outside of Kaikoura. This is where we meet Jacky and Bruce and then board our fishing boat. As we head out, we see a lone Hector’s Dolphin (the smallest dolphin in the world) skimming along the top of the water. It feels fortuitous.

There are a few others on the boat but our group makes up more than half so really it feels like it’s just us and the skipper and his mate on the boat. I hadn’t been sure what to expect of our fishing trip, but with more than half the boat reeling in their lines less than a minute after dropping them down, it sure seems like the Kunkel Curse is hanging out on the other coast. We catch tons of perch which look like giant goldfish, as well as some blue cod, barracudas, and little sharks (half a meter long or so).

Mom and I get a little motion-sick, but. I just glue my eyes to the horizon while I reel in my 300 meters of line and by the time the fish finally emerges above the water, I’ve settled enough to unhook it, toss it into the bucket, and rebait my hook before dropping the line back down. It’s a repeat of my last time in Kaikoura—I am mentally strong enough to beat sea-sickness. And guess what, I’m right again. 😉

When the fishing portion is over, we zoom back toward shore, but stop before we reach it. Here the skipper and his mate check three crayfish pots. They’re teeming with crayfish, though most are too small and are thrown back. But nine are keepers.

Crayfish, known as koura by the Maori (and thus what the town is named after) are lobster. Though they are different from Maine lobster because they don’t have any claws. Still, the nine crayfish are distributed among the fishers, so our group ends up with six. And they’re just as good eating as Maine lobster.

We don’t have a kitchen, but there’s a place in town, the skipper tells us, that will cook up the fish and the crayfish for us. We head to Cooper’s Catch, and they do as the skipper said. We give them some blue cod and perch fillets and they batter and fry them. And, with the crayfish, they slice them in half, still in the shell, and grill them in garlic butter. Other than Maryland crabs and some snapper I caught on the North Island, I’ve never had seafood so fresh.

After our feast, we split ways to rest and recover. I spend some time at the hotel pool, then go shopping with Mom and Sandee, finally meeting the boys at Emporium Brewing. We meet Jacky and Bruce for drinks at The Whaler again, and then go to Hiku for dinner.

The food and service is somewhat of a disaster, but the company is grand for our last night all together.

In the morning, we pack up and drive away and then they leave and I cry because it was everything I dreamed it would be from the moment I stepped on the plane back in the Denver airport. Imagining this trip, imagining showing my parents around, imagining pointing out where I stayed and showing them all the amazing hikes I’d done and introducing them to people I met…I showed them New Zealand the way I experienced it and I showed them who I had become. Not so different from who I was, but a little bit different. The adventurer I’ve always wanted to be.

I cried because it was too short and because I already missed them.