Our Departure from Pegasus involved returning to downtown Christchurch to complete some unfinished business and what should have been a mid-day arrival in Kaikoura turned into a late afternoon arrival.
We fueled up as we were getting on the way, and I thought this company had a cool motto, KIWIS FUELING KIWIS, so it gets top photo for the day.
The road to Kaikoura was Highway 1 in the New Zealand system. Travelling north from Christchurch to Kaikoura it mostly travelled through rural farmlands and the odd small town. Then about an hour outside Kaikoura, there was a sign stating “Narrow Winding Road for next 25 km”, and was it ever true. We’d seen lots of winding, narrow roads already in our trip, but nothing compared to this. I was cranking the steering wheel back and forth and travelling very slowly. Incredible scenic and a very demanding drive!
We soon emerged on the coast south of Kaikoura.
Soon after we reached the coast, we ran across this distinctively painted camper trailer.
We quickly came upon the Hikurangi Marine Reserve, a nearshore area south of Kaikoura completely set aside as an environmental reserve. It was a very welcome rest stop after our winding mountain road experience..
While the reserve is underwater and extends offshore, there is a nice little shoreline park overlooking it.
This is the direction we had just come from. As you can see we were still experiencing angry skies.
The kelp on these rocks is facing a very open sea, and gets pounded by waves. These are very rugged plants that can hang on like this. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a display like this in North America.
The beautiful grasses of New Zealand added to the beauty of this stormy day.
The skies, the water, the beautiful coastline and the vegetation!
Lynne nicknamed this guy
“Little Whale Island”!
It made for a very nice stop on a stormy day!
While stormy, it was a pleasant temperature and had relatively low humidity.
Heading on to Kaikoura, we passed under this very impressive rock-fall-management structure! It occurred to us that there might be applications for this technology at home in British Columbia!
A nice welcoming sign to our destination!
This art-deco period-piece added a little colour to our grey day.
This railway overpass at the north end of Kaikoura’s main street, “Esplanada”, added a further splash of colour!
Looking south along Kaikoura’s waterfront, this stand of Norfolk Island Pines gave a very distinct look.
Turning to the north, we capture the rest of Kaikoura’s main waterfront area.
The town was packed with tourists to the extent that we couldn’t get a sit-down meal any where but the beaches and streets seemed deserted.
We opted for take-away from a Thai food truck, and went off to check into our accommodation. Rather than a BnB, this was a hotel. It was a nice room, but it was also the last room and only available for one night. Tomorrow we’ll need to find a new place.
Grampafacts 