Camp Kaikoura

December 22 & 23 2005; Testing camping gear.

One of the big draws for me was to explore the fantastic scenery NZ has to offer. What better way to get away from it all and get close to the Great Outdoors than in a tent. No expensive hotel bills, no bane of the highway...the caravan :p With a Christmas gift from my parents we invested in a tent and a roof tray to leave the boot mostly free for Diesel. We plan to get away after Christmas, but thought we ought to have a night away to test what we have and, more importantly, see what we forget to pack! So back onto SH1 and head north again to Kaikoura, anyone would think we loved the place!

View north, Canterbury Plain begins to get interesting as the foothills rise.


Diversion on the way to Gore Bay, probably no connection to Martin but that didn't stop me humming a little Mode ditty.



As you can see, weather is a mixed bag.

Arrive in Kaikoura and check in at 69 Beach Road, woo hoo. Erect tent, empty bags and leave... the road is calling. Head further north, out of Kaikoura and onto the coast road towards Mangamaunu. Vanessa had wanted to attend a organised rock pooling tour that a friend had told us about, but a visit to the Information Site left us none the wiser. Decided to do our own rock pooling, which was fantastic even though some marine life we were unable to identify. But spotted the usual limpets, winkles, crabs (social and hermit varieties), anemones...and even two different varieties of starfish. Fantastic.

Paua shells, the ones we found on the beach were not as polished but WE FOUND THEM.

The beach on the road to Mangamaunu.

Coast road looking north. Stopped off at a roadside vendor selling crayfish (rock lobster) and bought a freshly caught and cooked beauty for $28, headed 20 or so km south to Kaikoura and got fish for the kids (they didn't even want to try crayfish), 2 scoops of chips and back to the campsite to re-heat Reggie (Cray). Mmmmmmmmmmm, yum....and half the cost of crayfish bought in KK.

Finished tea, we all went for a walk around town and to the KK beach. Came back and the wind started to pick up and the rain started to lash down, so zipped up and snuggled down for our first NZ night under canvas. Wasn't bad, a lantern allowed us to read before bed, wasn't too noisy, Diesel didn't fart too much. The only issue was a very excited young boy who was winding up his sister so he ended up sleeping in our end.

Woke next morning to a fantastic sight. Even though this was my third visit to KK, it was my first to see it in the morning. While the mountains are spectacular at any time, they are mostly in shadow from the afternoon. The morning sun highlighted their majesty, I can only imaging how they'll look on a crisp winter morning covered in snow.

Breakfast consisted of bacon and egg sandwich cooked on our gas stove and served in the wonderfully fresh sliced bread you get here with an enamel mug of coffee. Yum.