Transport
Atomic Shuttle bus from Christchurch, left at 7.30am and arrived at around 10am in time for the 10.30 whale watching tour. It is possible to make the trip to Kaikoura in a day from Christchurch without spending a night in Kaikoura.

Kaikoura was one of those places on the "if I have any chance left" list, but once I was talking to a friend living in Christchurch and she told me that Kaikoura is only a few hours away and easily accessible by bus. I then decided to try and go for a daytrip from Christchurch.

The reason I wanted to come to Kaikoura was to go Whale Watching and after I made up my mind about visiting the place I bookmarked my startup page to show me the daily whale sightings in Kaikoura. I never expected that Kaikoura is such a scenic place, and as much as I enjoyed watching the whales, the first thing that comes to mind when I remember about this place is the backdrop of snowcapped mountains coming out of the sea.

Even before getting out of the bus I realised that this is a busy touristy place as the whole main street which forms the village is lined up with all sorts of hostels, motels and hotels. In fact I could see more accommodations than people in the streets. Later I confirmed my perception with the local grocery attendant and she told me that in summer it's very busy and it isn't uncommon for people to queue till the end of the shop.

The uncrowded streets and the snowcapped mountains are one of the advantages of visiting Kaikoura in winter. The main threat of winter is the wind and rough seas which prevent whale boats from going out at sea. In fact the bus driver urged everybody to take the whale trip as soon as possible because the sea was very calm but was liable to turn rough later in the day. It turned out that he was right. The following day I met a French girl who didn't manage to get on a boat because of the inclement weather.

The whale watching trip finished at about 1.30pm and to regain my stability on solid ground I went for a stroll in Kaikoura and had some lunch at the bakery after Continental Seafoods Ltd. I had a coffee and a cheese pastry and went to eat it on the benches outside. In this country the coffee is either very strong or the sugar sachets aren't big enough. I left the pastry wrapped in the paper bag outside on the table and went to ask for some more sugar. When I returned the pastry had vanished and I see a gull picking at something on the floor. The cheeky bastard stole it. [Do you think he ate the rest of the pastry? … but off course! And he was laughing so hard that he ended giving the gull half of the pastry anyways.]

My original plan was to spend a day in Kaikoura and return with the afternoon bus but I fell in love with the place and decided to spend an extra day. At this time of the year it's was very easy to find accommodation without reservations and tonight I decided to stay at the Lazy Shag Backpackers. This decision was made purely because I liked the name of the place but it turned out to be a good decision because the place was comfortable and we were only 2 people in a 6 person dorm room.

The next morning after a pie and black coffee breakfast I went for a cliff top walk. This is an easily accessible walking trail that was suggested by the tourist office. Like most locals I've met, the people at the tourist offices are very friendly and do their utmost to make you feel welcome. All the places visited throughout the holiday had 1 or more information centres that are well equipped to help you select and book any activity available. This makes it practical to organize activities on the go without much prior planning which suited this holiday fine.

To start the cliff walk I first had to get to the seal colony which meant walking the whole bay until I couldn't get any further. At the seal colony there were 4 lazy seals dozing on a patch of grass. They were so photogenic I was envious. Once I reached the seal colony there was a sign pointing to a path for the cliff walk. The walk was then marked by wooden sticks with red arrows and there were steps to help going over the fences that delineate the field boundaries and separate the sheep or cows.

The worth of the walk was evident when I arrived at the top of the hill and the whole mountain range was visible from side to side. A truly amazing view! If you've got a good camera learn how to setup panoramic image shooting because it will come in handy here. Although the weather was fine and sunny it was so windy that my glasses were blown away when I was on the highest hill. This was the first of many other accidents the poor glasses suffered, with the worst being when it was squashed under my backpack with Sheamus standing on it. On my way back the signs ceased to exist but I managed to find the rest of the train after getting my precious jewels shocked against the electrified cow fences.

Kaikoura is renowned for its seafood particularly the crayfish (lobster) for which the village is named (kai – food, koura – crayfish). I tried looking for Crayfish street vendors as recommended by the Korean I met in Christchurch but didn't manage to find them. I ended up having lunch at the Craypot but as much as I like lobster I didn't feel rich enough to spend 60$ for a dish. I had seafood chowder instead. Apart from the origins of the name for the sperm whale I also learned that I don't like chowder. Today I received a mail from an Austrian friend I met in New Zealand and he told me that he went fishing for crayfish and managed to catch one and eat it, so I'd recommend doing this if you're interested in eating a crayfish.

Imagine how many pictures Lonely Planet have to shift through to choose the front cover of a new guidebook edition. Well, from all those pictures they chose one of Kaikoura for the latest edition. I take that as enough proof to say that Kaikoura is one of the most scenic places in New Zealand.

View the complete Kaikoura Gallery here