After a relaxing week in Auckland, then a fairly hectic week in Nelson for my dad’s wedding, the four of us decided to take some extra time on our road trip down to Christchurch and stopped over in Kaikoura for a day and night.
Kaikoura is a magical little seaside town located on the east coast of the South Island of NZ. The local speciality is crayfish, and there are gorgeous little food trucks selling freshly caught cray, oysters, whitebait and other seafood, right on the water’s edge.
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| Nin's Bin crayfish van (Image source: TripAdvisor) |
- there are two major seal colonies, which are an amazing sight to behold (and smell!). On the route into Kaikoura there are a few spots to pull over along the highway to check out Ohau Point Seal Colony, a baby seal playground of sorts. We were lucky enough to see hundreds of baby seals frolicking about on the rocks and in the water, playing with each other, fighting and generally having a rip-snorting good time. Super cute.
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| Baby seals at Ohau Point Seal Colony |
On the other side of town, Point Kean is another seal colony where the older, fatter and smellier seals hang out. When the tide is out visitors can walk out on the rocks amongst the seals as they sunbake and snore their smelly heads off. They really do pong! And the big ones are pretty scary up close.
We had a pretty close encounter with this guy, who had positioned himself on the very edge of the car park (it was a very high tide).
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| Looks cute huh? But they snore. And growl. And smell. |
The scenery is absolutely amazing – the weather closed in the afternoon we were there but it somehow made the view even more dramatic.
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| Little Miss on the look out for seals |
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| Found some!! |
To the kids’ delight we found an awesome playpark overlooking the beach, where it felt like we were about to swing right into the water as we flew through the air.
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| Kaikoura playpark |
Mr McD was very happy to find The Pier Hotel, where we enjoyed a quiet beer while the kids happily jumped on the trampoline and played on the equipment set up in the enclosed play area.
For dinner we didn’t venture far from our hotel due to some pretty wild weather, but we managed to find Robbie's Bar and Bistro, a pub with a great menu, an allergy-aware chef, and a giant toy box to keep the kids occupied. Gotta love a pub with a toy box!
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| Puzzles, wine and Little Miss - a good night |
The next morning we had a yummy breakfast at the Craypot Café, which had a well-equipped play area for the kiddies out the back, and a decent menu. They didn't have any almond or oat milk (nowhere in Kaikoura did!), but the guy was happy to make me a coffee using the oat milk I had with me.
Kaikoura is really well set up for children, although our kiddies, at 18 months and 3 years, were a little too young to enjoy everything on offer. Apart from the crayfish and the seal colonies, Kaikoura is world renowned for dolphin and whale watching tours, which bring in tourists by the busload (literally). Mr McD and I went swimming with dolphins in Kaikoura a few years ago, which was absolutely incredible (despite having a stinking hangover and the water being a balmy 13 degrees...).
We will definitely be going back when the kids are older so we can do more of the water-based activities, and spend a little longer looking around.
Next stop.... Christchurch.
