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Published: September 26th 2016
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The clouds have closed in as we make our way to Kaikoura today (Wednesday 21/9). The road and railway runs along this scenic coast which makes for nice viewing if you are lucky enough to not be the driver😊. We stopped just past Okiwi Bay to visit the Ohau Waterfall. This is where the seal pups come in winter to play and interact with others while their mothers are out gathering food. They make their own way up the stream to the waterfall and stay for several days before returning to their mums for a feed of rich milk. In the middle of winter (April to October) there are up to 200 seal pups playing at this waterfall. Now that would be an amazing sight, but there is only a couple here today. It is pretty incredible when you see how far the seals need to travel up to the waterfall. This is obviously a must do for tourists and is a very busy spot. Further up the road is the Ohau Seal Sanctuary lookout. Now this is a great spot on the hill looking down on all the seals. Male seals protecting their patch, baby seals playing in rock pools,
seals clambering high on rocks and a bit of sibling rivalry between a couple of juvenile seals. I could have spent a long time here watching it all, but the cold wind was just too much. Fact of the day: Along the Kaikoura coast nursing mothers mainly feed on Arrow Squid and Lantern Fish, a small mid-water fish species that has no value to commercial or recreational value.
Final stop for the night was the Kaikoura Trotting Club (South Bay). The cloud lifted enough for me to get a reasonable photo shot of the stables and snow-capped mountains behind. Not a bad room with a view.
Thursday morning and we are up and ready for the Kaikoura Peninsula walkway circuit. We started from the South Bay reserve where it’s a steep walk out of the bay to one of the many viewing platforms on this walk. This walk takes you over the peninsula coastal clifftop with stunning views over the sea, Kaikoura ranges, Limestone Bay, Whalers Bay, Pt Kean, Armers Beach. There is also plenty of seals and birdlife around this peninsula. From the Point Kean Carpark we then walked along the waterfront (around the seals on the
footpath) passing the wharf and then to Kaikoura town centre. A quick wander around the quaint township then back down the waterfront, up and over Toms Track to South Bay and Room with a view. About 12kms to do the whole loop from the trotting club so we reckon we might have earnt a beer tonight. This is a must view even if you don’t do the whole track. We were lucky today as the track was very quiet, perhaps due to the cold wind and rain hanging around the ranges.
Oh dear more grey cloud today (Friday 23/9). A quick walk down to the marina at South Bay this morning.This is where the tourist Whale/Dolphin boats leave. The marina is more like a wharf rather than a marina. But I did get some great shots of a Heron and Shag. (That’s Lance rolling his eyeballs …..yes I may have taken 100 odd photos😊) Now Off to the only Laundromat in town then out to Donegals Irish Pub to park up for the night and maybe a brew or two.
There have been lots of tunnels to drive through as we head south on Saturday. It’s funny how
you feel like we might not fit yet the big trucks are driving through them every day. I tried taking some photos but the window wipers kept getting in the way. We shot down a couple of side roads to the coast to visit Claverley and Conway Flat (wouldn’t go back, but we have been there done that). Driving through the little settlement of Cheviot, then back out to the coast and the stony Gore Bay. A very small beach settlement, with a camp right on the water. Just heading out of Gore Bay there is the Cathedral lookout. This is spectacular, the rugged cliffs and then the view to Gore Bay. From here we made our way to Manuka Bay. There is a track that you can walk from here to the Hurunui River Mouth (4.7kms). But the weather is unfortunately not in our favour today, so it will be added to the ever growing bucket list. We found most of the coast along here stony and very similar to some of the Hawkes Bay region. However we were in for a treat when we arrived at the Hurunui River Mouth…..Stunning. A couple of white baiters braving the cold
wet conditions and us tucked up in the Motorhome drinking coffee and enjoying the magic scenery. The photos will tell all. From here we headed to our final camp spot for the night…….. Motunau Beach. This is quite an interesting spot with huge cliffs that have obviously suffered some recent erosion. There are lots of warning signs around to warn of the danger. There is a bit of a lookout at the top of the ridge that gives you great views down to the beach, Motunau river mouth, and also out to Motunau Island. Motunau Island is a small 3 ha island reserve, it has a breeding colony of 5000 Little Penguins. Other birds breed there such as the Sooty Shearwaters, Fairy Prions, white faced Storm Petrels. There are also 3 species of lizards. No you cannot land on this island without the appropriate license. We are camped up at the local ratepayers basic camp right on the river; it’s so unbelievably quiet here.
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