Kaikoura - and Scrumptious seafood meal

December 13, 2011

Kaikoura - and Scrumptious seafood meal

Friday, November 11^th - Kaikoura

Following our beautiful ferry ride we took off to the south to Kaikoura, with a nice lunch stop along the way in a pullout next to the ocean. It was a bit over a two-hour drive to Kaikoura from Picton. Before we set out on the coastal hike, we stopped at the roadside Kaikoura Seafood BBQ, that Donna had read about in Lonely Planet. She enquired about lobster (they call them crayfish in NZ), and the lady said she didn’t have any right then but come back in a few hours as she was getting some fresh ones (like caught that afternoon) about then. It doesn’t get a whole lot fresher than that! That worked well with our plans to hike the coastal hike, so we did just that. It was very windy that day, but another beautiful area and hike. We walked along the cliff and also some down by the ocean, where we saw Fur Seals, nesting gulls, and pied shags. There are beautiful mountains close to the sea here (the closest on the east coast of the South Island), which you will see in a number of the pictures. This is also a whale watching area, although except for a few bachelors, not much whale activity at this time of the year. Headed back to the Seafood place (basically a kitchen trailer along the road with picnic tables adjacent), where we ordered a half of a lobster, 6 mussels and 6 scallops – all for $42, along with salad, rice, and garlic bread. Due to the wind, we opted to eat in our campervan – a most scrumptious meal – the scallops were particularly good – the best I’ve ever had. This was the first meal we ate out on the trip so far. After dinner it was back north the way we had come from Picton up to a DOC campsite, Mandrells Beach, where we camped at the far end of the campground, by ourselves, right next to the ocean. Soon a fiery orange full moon rose over the ocean. Incredible! (as noted by Donna) Accidentally stiffed the DOC, because we got here late and couldn’t find the usual pay envelopes. Oh well, the DOC will survive without our $12.