"Eat Crayfish"

Our new guide for the week, Jed, is much more experienced at tour guiding, even though today was his first day on the job with Wild Kiwi.  He worked for two other tour companies for about 10 years so he has tons of facts and info to share with us which I appreciate.  In addition to a new guide we have a new ride: a campervan.  The pace of today was so much more relaxed and easy-going since the distances traveled each day are shorter.  We drove for about an hour and then had a coffee stop in the little town of Chevoit.  The weather was beautiful so we sat outside the cafe chatting before heading on down the road.  We were able to spot some seals and dolphins along the way (driving along the east coast) so that was a bonus.

Kaikoura is located on a peninsula and they had a large earthquake there in 2016.  Jed hasn't been back through the area since before the quake and as we drove he kept commenting about how much things have changed, even just along the coastline.  The water level is about 3 meters lower than it was last time he'd come through and a lot of the rocks now visible above the water weren't visible before the quake.

After checking out the view from the town lookout we did the beautiful Kaikoura Peninsula Walk, which took about an hour.  Farmland, beautiful sea cliffs, the views were worth the hike.  According to the DoC brochure, "The peninsula is a biological nodal point, a place where ‘north meets south’ or, more accurately, where ‘warm meets cold’.  Here, the distributions of typically northern and southern species overlap — the seaweeds show a strong southern affinity, while the animals show a warmer, more northern influence.  Add to this the rich variety of inter-tidal and sub-tidal habitats, and you have one of the most biologically diverse locations of the entire east coast of the South Island."

Our walk ended at the carpark, which is conveniently located next to a seal colony! We were able to get quite close to them and I was able to take some videos of them as well (which my nephews loved).

We'd heard good things about the fish n chips at Coopers Catch, so all ordered a takeaway and Jed drove us back up to the lookout to watch the sun drop behind the mountains.  It's a very small town and there's not much to do in winter (especially in the evenings), so we decided to make use of the hostel's hot tub.  With a few Brits on the trip it's been interesting to hear all about their take on the royal wedding, the royal family, etc. and it certainly was the main topic of conversation this evening.

"Legend has it that Māui used the Kaikoura Peninsula as a foothold to brace himself when he fished the North Island out of the sea. From this comes the peninsula’s earliest name: Te Taumanu o te Waka a Māui, the thwart or seat of Māui’s canoe. The name Kaikoura means ‘eat crayfish’, recalling the occasion when Tama ki te Raki had a meal of crayfish here, pausing on his journey around the South Island in pursuit of his three runaway wives."