In Kaikoura

Te Anau to Kaikoura, 3 days riding.

We are in Kaikoura, a town on the east coast, a couple of hundred clicks north of Christchurch. It is situated on a small peninsular that protrudes about 5K out into the Pacific. The town is sandwiched between the ocean and the Seaward Kaikoura mountain range. This is an old whaling town but commercial whaling ended here in 1924. Now it is a laid back whale, dolphin and seal watching tourist town. One of the big activities here is to go out in a boat and swim with the dolphins. With the proximity of the mountains there is also some mountain biking and hiking. In winter it is a 50 minute drive to Mt Lyford Alpine Resort, a fairly new resort with 450m vertical ski terrain.

A glacial river, kayaking and jet boat rides
There are a fair number of tourists here but nothing like the crowds in Queenstown. The main area of restaurants, stores and accommodations is located on the beach front road that wraps around the bay and out along the north shore of the peninsular.

It is a beautiful sunny day but the temperature is only 18C and the on-shore breeze is cool if you sitting in the shade. The black sand beach is almost deserted. Not only is it a bit cool for swimming but it is also a dangerous swimming area.
There is a nice 12 to 13K trail around the peninsular with some interesting viewpoints and information signs describing the area and its history. We walked this morning. It takes about 3 hours to circumnavigate the peninsular and it was nice to get some exercise.

Yesterday was a long ride from Lake Tekapo. Rain has been threatening for days but we have managed to avoid running into any, that is, until yesterday. About ½ hour out of Kaikoura we could see the rain fall ahead. We went through one heavy shower but it only lasted about 5 minutes and we were almost dry by the time we hit the next one. This time it was a little heavier and mixed with some hail. Thank goodness for the helmet and jacket but that hail hurts when it hits the legs and hands! We slowed down but were out of the shower within minutes only a little damp.

We are staying at the Nikau Lodge, a restored heritage home that is now a very nice 7 bedroom B&B. Tomorrow we are heading back to Nelson to the Grampian Inn. Both these B&Bs are owned but the fellows from whom we rented the motorcycle and they have been two of the nicest places we have stayed.

The Nikau Lodge in Kaikoura

Tomorrow it’s back to Nelson to return the bike. We leave Nelson early afternoon the next day and fly to Auckland, LA, Calgary. We scheduled to arrive back in Calgary on the 21st at 8:30 pm. We will probably stay in Calgary overnight and drive back to Fernie on the 22nd.