On Sunday 21st June, it was the winter solstice. The shortest day of the year in the Southern Hemisphere. It was cold and it was quiet and it was beautiful. Kaikoura is where you might go to whale-watch. It’s where you go to see dolphins. But thanks to Covid, there were no whale or dolphin watching trips on offer and the best anyone could do was to take the Kaikoura Peninsula Walk and hope for an off-shore sighting. Or just make do with the glorious views and the huge seal colonies on the limestone reefs below.
It really was very pretty. But it was also very muddy in places. And I wished I taken a photo of that. Because I slipped and fell. And I want to show you just how muddy it was. It was like three falls in one. A comedy fall. I wish I could see a replay. The only thing I really remember is coming to a halt because I head-butted the ground. And I must have leapt to my feet as quick as a flash because I don‘t remember getting up at all. I just know I was covered from top to tail. Initially, I was glad no one else was there to witness it. But now I feel bad because I know a whole lot of people who would have laughed about that for years to come. It seems a waste.
I had to walk back covered in mud. I cleaned up as much as I could with my hat, but it was still pretty bad. And I was still about an hour away from the car park and I had yet to go down to the actual waterfront. I did it anyway. And bumped into a woman with walking poles and we discussed their benefits. She seemed a little smug, if you ask me. And her husband definitely wasn’t as funny as he thought he was.
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