How can anything go off smoothly without some spice thrown in by god almighty himself? A stone flew and hit the radiator of the bike in the middle of nowhere (actually near Waiau) creating a leak which drained the whole coolant in a matter of minutes. I thought the trip was over when in-the-middle-of-nowhere a kay ahead I spotted a car service station. They actually sealed the leak with an external sealant and put water in the system. From that point I had another 300kms to go to catch my 7PM ferry to Wellington in North Island. I did not trust the seal but had no choice to go on . Even the cellphone didnt work there. I continued at a slower pace and after my confidence in the seal grew I hit the top speed limit (of 100kays on the highways , not of the bike!). I arrived in Picton, where I had to catch my ferry with no leakages. Talk about luck! But before arriving Picton, I again hit the highway from the Inland road from Waiau, exiting just 5 kays before Kaikoura. A beautiful sight lay ahead of me – incredibly deep blue waters of the Pacific Ocean. Instead of turning left on the highway I went straight ahead to the beach over hard gravel (which could have created another fissure on the radiator, but the beauty of the ocean was too much to resist!). I found many white birds (sorry don’t know their names ) resting on the beach, contrasting with the color of the water.

The ride from Kaikoura to Wharanui along the coastline was stupendous. I think this was the best road running parallel to a body of water that I had ridden on till now (both NZ and AU combined). The water was blue as anything and the bright sunshine contributed to the quality of the ride.