Another early morning but it was worth it. Today we drove about
90 minutes south and east to come out along the coast of the south island. Being
a California girl, I love seeing the ocean. The route we drove was similar to
the Trans Pacific Coastal train that goes from Picton to Christchurch.
Around 9:45am we arrived at the Ohau Stream and being fall,
we saw the seal pup nursery at the base of the waterfall. A little further down
the road we stop at a place to see some of the adult seals.
An hour later we stopped at the Café Encounter in Kaikoura
for lunch. This is a fully licensed café providing the perfect setting for
inside and outside dining opposite the beach. We had time (about 45 minutes) after brunch to walk along the one block main
street of Kaikoura to shop. I purchased
ice cream (but not the Hokey Pokey favor).
12:30pm we made our way to the Whale Watch Kaikoura office.
Every whale watch tour is a unique experience and the sightings vary. Giant
Sperm Whales are the stars of this cruise and year round. This company
guarantees that if you do not see a whale, they will refund 80% of the fare. We
saw three different sperm whales while we were out on our 3 hour cruise.
We also saw Dusky Dolphins but they were harder to get a
picture of.
4:30pm we were back on the bus and we headed inland for the
next two hours. On our way to the Heritage Hanmer Springs hotel to spend the
one night, we enjoyed a beautiful sky at sunset.
No comments:
Post a Comment