The South Island

Sunday 3 February

Lovely weather this morning. water taxi picking us up at 12.15 back to Picton where we get another car for the South Island tour.Back a little better.

Picked up a new 4-wheel drive car from Avis and drove down the coast to Kaikoura with a brief stop at one of the well known Crayfish caravans to down a freshly boiled Crayfish at the roadside for a very cheap price, superb.Kaikoura means to eat Crayfish in Maori.

We kept passing vintage Bentley's going in the other direction and finally managed to talk to one of the drivers at a cafe stop who told us there were 30 cars taking part in a tour of New Zealand driving about 3,000 miles. Great looking cars.

On the way we passed Ohau Point which has a good sized seal colony and provided real fun viewing from the lookout point. The road hugs the coast most of the way and is a great drive all the way to Kaikoura.

Stayed at the Anchor Inn Motel, very comfortable, and had a nice dinner. Room on ground floor looking right over the sea.

Looking forward to the whale watch trip in the morning.