Kaiteriteri to Kaikoura

Unfortunately it was time to leave Kaiteriteri. This is the type of place where you could spend a week. Here is a map of our route for today.

We are heading to Picton again but this time we will be driving the Queen Charlotte Drive which provides some views of Queen Charlotte Sound. As we were driving along, we noticed several early 1950's Jaguars. Would be a fantastic drive on these twisty roads. At our first stop at a scenic overlook, there was another one parked in the lot. A beautiful 1956 XK140.

This is an overview of Havelock located at the end of Queen Charlotte Sound. It has a fairly large marina facility.

Some more views of the sound.

The speed limit for most of this scenic drive is 30 kph and believe me, that is as fast as you can go. When we approached Picton, we saw this huge lumber and ship loading facility. Now I know where all of the logging trucks we have seen go to drop their loads.

I had to drop into the Apex Car Rental place to have the mechanic check out a bit of a noise in the suspension so we had lunch in downtown Picton while he checked it out. From here it was a trip south on Hwy 1. This is the main east coast north-south route but it is still a tar & chip surface with no shoulders. Going through the hills south of Blenheim, the wind really started to pick up with the gusts shifting the car sideways. About halfway to Kaikoura the highway meets the ocean and it is a beautiful drive along the east coast.

There are all sorts of seal colonies along the waterfront.

We stopped at a crayfish restaurant that we read about. Quite the place!

The numbers on the tails are the prices, and yes, that's in dollars!

We ordered the fresh cut french fries.... and ate them at the roadside picnic table.

The motel we booked was fine, typical Kiwi with fully equipped kitchenette and a modern bathroom. The motel has a nice pool, spa and sauna and what appears to be, good bandwidth on the wi-fi with no data limit!

It was a fairly short walk to the waterfront and the "downtown" area with some nice shops and some restaurants. The population is 3850 so its a fairly small place. The most popular thing here whale watching and swimming with seals.

The Seaward Kaikoura Range of mountains provide a stunning backdrop. For most of the year, these are snow topped but it has been very warm here lately so no snow to be seen.

Our mid afternoon snack had dulled our appetite so we stopped by the Four Square to pick up some salad and nibbles to eat in our room.