November 14, 2015 Kaikoura NZ

We left the wineries of Marlborough behind us this morning as we headed over to the coast and further south to Kaikoura, only 135km away.

Today we were operating under various instructions. First, the tour guide Gary said we had to stop at The Store and drink coffee and take in the view. Well, who are we to argue, and as we had left fashionably late it was coffee time buy the time we hit the actual coast itself. The Store is the only thing around for miles and we were told the only coffee shop on the coast before Kaikoura.  So when The Store at Kekerengu came into view we pulled in and indeed, had a most enjoyable rest out on the deck sipping coffee and eating cake.

The Store. Kekerengu, NZ

Judy sipping a coffee. The Store. Kekerengu, NZ

Most interesting bird we've seen so far, no idea what it is.
The Store. Kekerengu, NZ

Next on the list of well meaning advice was to stop at the car park, 'five minutes past the shop with the cray on the roof.'  Before we reached it we scored our first glimpse of something fairly unique: ocean and beaches right next to snow-capped mountains. Just had to stop and grab a snap. Or two. Driving on, we found the rooftop crayfish easily enough, after all, how could you miss such a thing? 

Snow capped mountains next to the ocean, somewhere south of The Store. Kekerengu, NZ

The first gaggle of cars and camper vans in a carpark looked promising, and to our surprise we found Fur Seals fooling about in the rocky shallows and sunbaking, well, cloud-baking, on the rocks. Always worth a snap as well.

NZ Fur seal doing it tough. Ohau Point NZ

NZ Fur Seal. Ohau Point NZ

But it wasn't what we were looking for, so on we went, further south, where we soon came to a place called Ohau Point, where there's a creek that runs under the road and a railway line and out into the ocean. Our hostess in the Vintners Retreat in Renwick had said to find this creek, and follow the track up to the waterfall. This turned out not to be too difficult to find, there is a huge sign after all! Ten metres into the track you come to the creek, and there in the rock pool are three fur seal pups playing in the water and larking about for the rubber-neckers. Took 1000 snaps. What's further up the track? Up we went (it's only about 200m and easy walking) until we reached the waterfall at the end. And there, frolicking and cavorting in the pool are at least 20 pups! Now we've been to a lot of places and seen a lot of quite extraordinary things, but finding these seals playing in a pool under a waterfall 200 metres  from the ocean was truly something special. 

Judy snapping away at Fur Seal pups playing in the rock pools. Ohau stream NZ

How good have these  pups got it? Ohau stream NZ

You looking at me? Ohau stream NZ

Ohau stream NZ

Our last set of instructions came from  son-in-law Daniel, and as a Kiwi he should know about these things, was to stop at Nins Bin. Where? What? Nins Bin turns out to be a stationary food caravan on the edge of the ocean and its rock platforms, which abounds in all kinds of seafood, as can be attested by the hordes of locals dressed in black rubber suits jumping into the freezing waters. Nins  itself specialises in cooked crayfish caught right here this morning at the front door. I've never eaten crayfish, but Judy thinks its the ants' pants, so we shelled out a king's ransom (sorry kids, all the inheritance is now gone) for a medium sized one, re-warmed and  given some garlic sauce as a garnish, and a side of chups... sorry, chips. The crayfish was quite good, tastes just like a big prawn to me.  Good one, Daniel. 

Nine Bin. Kaikoura NZ

Judy in heaven. Crayfish in one claw and a chip in the other. Kaikoura NZ

Tearing ourselves away from the ruins of our crayfish banquette, we wandered the few more kilometres down to Kaikoura itself and found our old, but perfectly comfortable motel. Its a two story cinderblock relic from the 1960's, but nice and tastefully tarted up, and we have lucked into an upstairs room. We are right on the black sand beach, and right outside the double window doors are this stunning range of snowy mountains. Does it get much better than this?

We go out for a bit of  look around and take 10,000 more snaps of snow. An added instruction of the day came from the nice lady in reception. 'You should try the Devonshire Tea at the lavender farm, it's terrific.' Seeing as we were on a role, third party advise wise, we thought, 'why not?' As its only just out of town, we went there first, but to be perfect honest and the quote my English friends, 'It were rubbish.' We did not stay and headed back to town, and drover around the coast to the lookout, which we did not attempt as it looked quite a hike up from the carpark. We took more snaps of snow. We went into the little village itself, parked up and went for a walk up one side, and down the other before finding a coffee shop to our exacting expectations. Where else in the world can you sip coffee in your shorts and T-shirt while drinking in the best of the Alps?

Kaikoura NZ

Kaikoura NZ

Anyhow, that was our day, how was yours?