13 December 2024 -New Zealand- South Island -Kaikoura

We had set the alarm for 8.00am as we had to be out of our accommodation by 10.00am. We had a good breakfast, packed and were ready to leave in time.

It was a lovely day as we left and we slowly drove away from the lovely farm we had been on. It had been an enjoyable few days. We drove into Blenheim and headed South toward Kaikoura.

Kaikōura; Māori pronunciation: [kaiˈkoːuɾa]) is a town on the east coast of the South Island of New Zealand, located on State Highway 1, 180 kilometres (110 mi) north of Christchurch. The town has an estimated permanent resident population of 2,470 as of June 2024. Kaikōura is the seat of the territorial authority of the Kaikōura District, which is part of the Canterbury region.

Kaikōura was first inhabited by the Māori, with the Ngāi Tahu iwi occupying the area since at least 1670. Europeans began to settle in Kaikōura in the mid-1840s.

The infrastructure of Kaikōura was heavily damaged in the 2016 Kaikōura earthquake, with one of the two deaths near the town. The bay and surrounding region were uplifted by as much as 2 metres (6 ft 7 in). In 2023, Kaikōura was named as one of the "most beautiful small towns in the world". Kaikōura is known for its biodiversity, a wide variety of marine mammals can be seen in the sea, including whales and dolphins.

The Kaikōura Peninsula extends into the sea south of the town, and the resulting upwelling currents bring an abundance of marine life from the depths of the nearby Kaikōura Canyon. The town owes its origin to this effect, since it developed as a centre for the whaling industry. The name Kaikōura means 'meal of crayfish' (kai – food/meal, kōura – crayfish) and the crayfish industry still plays a role in the economy of the region. However Kaikōura has now become a popular tourist destination, mainly for whale watching and swimming with or near dolphins.

The main road takes you through the hills and mountains surrounding Blenheim and through wine country towards Seddon. It was interesting to see vineyards up in the hills when the remainder had been in the valley. There were beautiful views of hills and mountains and lush valleys and farmlands.

The road took us nearer to the coast and we went down Marfles Beach Road (as suggested) to a long beach with the ocean laid out before us. We got out and had some vitamin D and walked in our bare feet on the sand and paddled on the cool ocean. There was a campsite behind the beach.

We then continued our journey and the road the joined the coast and we had fantastic views down the coast with rocks along the coast but the sea was a lovely blue aqua marine and very calm today. As we continued we stopped to take the odd picture and saw some dolphins playing in the water. We were only about 20 miles from Kaikoura and the road continued to run alongside the coast with mountains in the distance. As we looked at the sea practically every bay and beach we could see dolphin fins and there were lots of them.

We eventually came into town and it was a nice town and it has the feel of a surfing town. That sort of coastal beach town. There are lots of young people and restaurants and bars and the town is within a large bay with mountains up behind it. It was beautifully sunny and we drove around as we could not get into our accommodation yet.

We drove up to a viewpoint over the town and the picture of the day is from that viewpoint. We could see even from here some dolphins jumping out of the water and having fun. We then drove out on the peninsula and came to an area of grey rocks. We got out of the car and walked on to the rocks and came across a number of fur seals basking in the sun. They did not seem to mind us and we respected their space.

We then headed back to town and had a sandwich. We had already arranged a whale watching trip for the 15th and saw that there was an Albatross experience and decided to book this for tomorrow. Jules and I have never seen them in the wild and I missed them in the Galapagos. We will therefore give it a go.

We were then able to go to our accommodation and settled in and enjoyed sitting in the garden reading for a bit. We later went into the town and had an enjoyable supper.

Stormbird

I had a call from Half Moon Bay Marina to say that Stormbird had had a small accident. The metal cradle holding her had failed and she had sat back on her rudder. This had slightly damaged the bottom of the rudder and had pushed up the rudder stock by about 8-10mm. They are going to fix it but wanted to let me know and wanted to understand what the top of the rudder stock is packed with. I therefore made a call to the owners of Yaghan another HR 62 and I have emailed Transworld Yachts to get further information. It could have been worse and luckily Stormbird was built very strongly. It is annoying but hopefully they will be able to resolve the issues next week.

Opportunity Year Two

In year two I will be going from New Zealand in early January 2025 across to Sydney and up the Eastern Australian Coast, Indonesia and then through Bali, Singapore and on to Thailand to end year two about the end of November 2025. I will need some more crew.

If there is any interest do email me at  hine.nick9@gmail.com  

The blog will continue as we continue the journey. If you have any comments or suggestions about the blog then do email me on hine.nick9@gmail.com