Kaikoura

Wednesday 5th December, 2018 and the first thing we had to do was find someone in Kaikoura to fix the flattening left, outside (luckily) back tyre on our bus. The same one that we had patched in Plimmerton! We had noticed it going down a couple of days prior but Kaikoura was the closest place to get help. The man at the garage there was so helpful and tried to fit us in straight away until he was called out urgently for a couple of hours to work on a stranded truck. We had plenty to do in the bus to keep us occupied however. Once back the lad replaced the inner tube and cleaned around the wheel and we were soon back on the road after paying a very low amount for the tube and all his work. So low I felt I should have taken some scones in as I wondered how he was earning enough to feed himself.

From there we parked, alongside a few others, at the NZMCA Park at South Bay beside the Trotting Club. From there we walked further along the road to the path that forms part of the circular Peninsula track and heads over the hill into town. We had a wander through the village and into the Isite to check on the walking and cycle tracks. On the northern side of town, at Cods & Crayfish, we had the urge to buy a crayfish at last seeing they are abundant there and should be a good price. I'm not even going to say what we paid for the smallest one they had in the shop but it was totally delicious cooked that night in a mornay sauce. A few days later Jenny, who we played with in the Kaikoura Christmas golf tournament, told us she could have got one for us for $10. We could have bought 7 if we had any money left from buying the one at the shop!

Drizzle and clouds greeted us again the next day but it was a good temperature for walking

Debussy@South Bay

so after parking in the South Bay carpark where all the signage is for the Peninsula walk we set off along the track -

The Peninsula Walk

a breathtaking walk with beautiful views of the coast, rocks, basking and lumbering seals with one or two tourists at times getting a little close for a seal's comfort necessitating their quick retreat when the seal started heading for them.

Seals forever

Once round the point and on the roadside path coming back into town we had to stop at the very popular and busy Seafood BBQ caravan, with it's outdoor seating, and order a crayfish sandwich each.

Great value sea food kiosk 

At $10 each that was a bargain compared to the price of a whole one with the fritter being nice and quite tasty. Not as good as my mornay though! All the time we were keeping our fingers crossed that the threatening rain wouldn't eventuate. It managed to hold off until we got to the path leading back over the hill that we had walked the day before from town. Luckily it stayed fairly light and drizzly in that half hour and we weren't too wet once back at the bus. We then returned to the NZMCA Park down the road for another nights stay.

Friday emerged as a beautiful sunny day and after getting groceries and a haircut for Len we headed south for 4-5 minutes to the Kaikoura Golf Club where it was pretty quiet meaning we could get straight out onto the course with hardly a soul in sight - $25 each. Nice course with trees, bunkers on only a couple of holes and only one little lake as a water hazard. However we did find the greens very hard to read and quite fast after other courses we have played on. We saw that they were holding an open tournament on Sunday so we planned to play in that before leaving town.

Saturday was washing and drying day with a chance to buy a delicious whitebait fritter for lunch at the roadside caravan just along the road from the laundry. Later we rode our bikes from the NZMCA Park along the coastal cycle track which starts off reasonably wide but once reaching the trees becomes windy and narrow with treacherous tree routes. Mountain bikes would be better although we managed fine - just very pleased that we didn't meet anyone coming towards us on a tight bend as it would have been a nasty collision! We actually didn't see any other cyclists at all on the nearly 2 hour return ride which took us as far as under the road at the far end of the golf club. From there on you would definitely need mountain bikes.

Once back at camp we drove into town to eradicate our long held nasty memory of the fish and chips that we bought whilst staying in Kaikoura 14 years ago. I told Len then that Kaikoura would have great fish and chips being right on the sea but what we got were the worst fish and chips that both of us have ever had in our lives - one word only and that was "foul". So bad we couldn't eat them - first time I have ever thrown fish and chips out. This time we bought blue cod and chips at Coopers Catch, a very very busy takeaway and casual eatery right in town, and luckily they were to die for! The blue cod was delicious with good crispy batter and nice chips. These ones were right up there in the ratings, perhaps the best we can remember. So old memories can be cancelled!

So we have done well with eating the delicious kai in Kaikoura - all my favourites - whitebait, crayfish and fish. Who could ask for better treats than that?