"That was really shellfish of you"

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The South Island of New Zealand is famed most of all for it's wonderful and picturesque scenery. Whether it be the rolling hills in the Otago region, the sheer majesty of Mt. Cook, the adrenaline pumping surrounds of Queenstown or the sun-kissed archipelago of the Marlborough Sounds. But all of these places dwell in the shadow of the beauty of this next place. To one side you have Mountains and to the other you have one of the best scenic driving routes IN THE WORLD (imagine that being delivered with the same enthusiasm of Jeremy Clarkson). I could be talking about no other place than the beautiful coastal town of Kaikoura.



A place that was discovered by the Maori's has always been a local favourite because of the abundance of some of the most delectable seafood on offer. Even the town's name refers to the gastronomic delight of the city. In Maori, the language of the local indigenous population, the word Kaikoura actually means 'Eat Crayfish' (Kai=Eat and Koura=Crayfish). But for a long time it was nothing more than a hidden gem. It was only in the last few decades has the world and to a larger extent even New Zealanders become more aware of the delights that this small hamlet has to offer.



The town itself isn't overly large, with the predominant businesses running along two roads that join together at a point near the centre of the town. The beach front has not changed that much in the last few years, with a few stores, a couple backpackers, a few bars, a couple of restaurants and takeaway stores, several cafes and a public restroom facility that has been illustrated wonderfully with some of the activities and entities that the town has become synonymous with. But unfortunately not all of the places are open in the winter months, this is because Winter time is the off season, but if you venture to the town during the summer months the place will feel very different and all the places should be open. Unfortunately during my visit, two major places the Sonic restaurant near the i-Site and Global Culture, a clothing store, were both shut down.



Very close to the public toilets is a bridge that crosses a small estuary river and allows you to go to the beach front to get a decent view of the pacific ocean. The beach is not like any of the beaches that I am used to back in Australia, because unlike those beaches, which are golden sand. The beach at Kaikoura is a black stone beach, which stretches along the whole peninsula from bluff to bluff. The black stones offer excellent contrast to lime greenish, almost sickly green coloured seaweed and bright orange seaweed and driftwood. Some of the driftwood an been purposely stacked to make a teepee like creation and that stood out over the natural arch of the beach, to intrigue an individual and get them closer to the shore line to get a better idea what exactly the structure looks like and exactly how tall the structure really is.



After a very quick visit to the beach I decide to head back to the main street to grab a bite to eat as the sun was beginning to set and it had been several hours since I had eaten anything. I decided to head down the main street and see what tickled my fancy. Quickly one place had me intrigued simply for the fact that I am in Kaikoura hence I should have some seafood, after all "when in Rome," well perhaps that should be when in Kaikoura. The place at hand, Tiki Takeaways, also had another major selling point that intrigued me. The eating establishment has been voted the second best takeaway in all of New Zealand, and that they are the best in the South Island. This is a very large claim to make, and I am very sure many trouble maker would try and and undermine their claim. Luckily for them, I am no such person (read: I really am). I venture in and there was already a small line of customers awaiting their chance to order. This usually is a very good sign, because chances are the larger the line the better the chance the food will be of the highest quality.



After several minute wait and a quick observation of the pricing board, I was eventually at the counter and got to experience the delight of the friendliness of New Zealanders. The woman at the counter was exceptionally lovely and made the ordering process much more of a pleasant experience to the point where she had cunningly got me to upgrade the size of my meal without me really noticing her doing it. To be fair it was all of one dollar more expensive so I am not really that upset about the process. Being rather sceptical I decided to stick to the timeless classic of fish and chips, well there was a slight difference, the type of fish was different from what I am used to. Where I grew up the type of fish that you use was Butterfish, but instead I was getting something called Lemon Fish. Needless to say the taste of everything was amazing the batter the fish was covered in was amazing, the fish itself was brilliant, the chips were perfectly salted and for a real New Zealand experience I decided to have a soft drink that they claim is 'World Famous in New Zealand,' something called Lemon and Paeroa.



Lets just skip to the next day, not too much happened over night other than relaxing in a spa pool for a few hours overlooking the sea and the mountains. But when I woke up I already had decided what I was going to do today. I was going to go on the peninsula walk that many people around Kaikoura had suggested that I should do. To put it plain and simple it is a terrifically scenic walk along one of the most beautiful coastlines I have had the privilege to ever have seen. Throughout the walk you go past one of the oldest buildings in the area, the idyllic and beautiful Fyffe house, which was erected in the mid 1800s and still stands strongly overlooking the horizon. The building is rather hard to miss, not only because of the fact that there are many signs indicating the place, but the fact that the building is an unmissable pink.



Continuing on the route you eventually reach a Caravan just off the road with many tables and chairs set up alfresco style. The place claims to be rather famous, having been talked about in editions of Lonely Planet's guide to New Zealand. I decide to stop off here and grab the sea dwelling bug that the town is really famous for, the Crayfish. The roadside caravan, which is known as the Original Kaikoura Seafood BBQ does offer some of the best Crayfish, behind the famous Nin's Bin. But the thing that this roadside caravan has is proximity, its in only located on the outskirts of the town. Now the crayfish itself was rapidly boiled brilliantly, much nicer than you'd imagine for a sea insect in essence, but the Crayfish was soft and tasty and came on a bed of rice and accompanied by local salad, sourced from produce grown locally in the region. But the best part of the meal was the price as Crayfish (or Lobster to you Americans) is unbelievably expensive, but for the relatively small sum of $25, the buyer receives half a Cray.



After the small meal, I continued on with the walk along the peninsula route, where after about 10 minutes along a board walk running parallel to some estuary creek getting to watch several seals swimming and playing alongside me as I continue to walk. I eventually reach the Seal colony, where two rather large specimens are laying on two respective ends of the board walk meaning I had to jump off the prescribed walkway early. Waves crashing over the rocks, whilst some Seals lazed awkwardly upon the jagged cliffs lapping up the unseasonable warm temperature and rare sight of the sun during mid Winter in New Zealand. I walk along the rock beds with several others being extra cautious to give extra space to the Seals, as the numerous signs in the area suggesting everyone give a wide birth to the Seals and try not to get between the Seals and the sea, because they can get aggressive and charge, and the Seals and surprisingly fast over the first 20 metres and their bite is rather painful.



After an hour walking around the coast I decide to venture back to the town as the wind had picked up and the temperature had dropped rather suddenly. Fortunately for my sake the walk back warmed me up as did the Speights beer and complimentary Pork Knuckles I decided to drink and was offered at the Pier Hotel on the rather uneventful walk back. But the beer and pub snack had left me rather hungry so I decided in my laziness to go and have another takeaway option rather than cook my own meal again. This time I decided to try something new and I headed across the road from where I got dinner the other day, this time to a small fish and chip eatery called Coopers Catch. I immediately went in and something grabbed my attention. The plain burger was exactly the thing I wanted, but something about it made the burger seem that much better, and that thing was the fact the burger came with beetroot. For those not from Australia or New Zealand, a burger is a lot better if it has Beetroot in it, end of story. There is absolutely no possible recourse to this as it is God's own truth, and that means more when you are in a country often called God's country.

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