We packed up and checked out at about 9.30am and then walked down the High Street to have breakfast at Gusto’s. We ordered a Morning Glory which came with 2 rashers of bacon, two eggs, mushrooms, potatoes, tomatoes and toast. I think that we will have to order smaller breakfasts for the rest of the trip!
Back to the motel to pick up the car and away from Picton by 10.20am.
We drove towards Havelock down the Queen Charlotte Drive for the dramatic scenery. The cleaner at the motel had told us to be careful as it is a very winding road. There is hardly any traffic and the views are beautiful. There are plenty of places to stop for photos (on the other side of the road) but we must be careful not to stop at everyone. Lots of bikes on the road, both cycles and motor! The road has very steep hills up and then they drop down into small idyllic bays with a few boats and houses, each with its own mail box at the end of the drive, a huge number of which are decorated.
We stopped at a designated view point and the gravel track down to it was unsuitable for motor homes. Quite a long drive down and when we parked it was still a long steep climb up to the actual view point. The cicadas were so noisy that they hurt our ears. At one point Linda thought about stopping where a tree had uprooted and slipped down the banking, leaving the path quite narrow at that point. No handrails and very few people around, although there were more cars in the car park when we returned to the car. It was, however, well worth it.
From Havelock we journeyed south to Renwick through a valley reminiscent of the Scottish borders. From there we turned east towards Blenheim. In the guide book Blenheim is described as follows:
“In the early 1970’s Blenheim was a fairly sleepy service town set amid pastoral land; now it is a fairly sleepy service town surrounded by some of the most fecund and highly regarded vineyards in the land.”
For the wine buffs this is the area that the famous Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc comes from.
For the wine buffs this is the area that the famous Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc comes from.
South from Blenheim we stopped at the restored Cob Cottage built in the 1860’s. Part of the cottage was a school room where Miss Mapp and her pupil teacher taught the local children.
(Before going into service Linda’s Grandmother was a pupil teacher and was encouraged to become a teacher. Unfortunately when her father died the family were not able to afford for her to take the training as they had to move away from the farm that they had lived on).
We stopped at the ancient bridge that crossed the Awatere River. This had been a single direction bridge shared by the railway line. The road bridge has now been partially demolished and a new road bridge constructed.
Further south again we passed Lake Grassmere, a vast shallow salt lake from which much of New Zealand’s table salt is produced. Salt water is pumped into Lake Grassmere from the sea and then evaporated by warm winds, leaving tonnes of salt. During summer, phases of the process turn the ponds sparkling shades of pink and purple.
The road was now flanked by the spectacular beach of fine volcanic gravel on the east and looming fairly barren hills on the west. At Wharanui we drove down a grit road to the ocean and stopped for our lunch of cereal bars and bananas. A local out walking told us to keep our eyes open for the dolphins that had been playing around bay earlier. Unfortunately we didn’t see any.
Driving further down the coast road we were looking out for the Ohau Seal Reserve but we managed to see a large colony of fur seals before that. They were well camouflaged and easy to miss. At the reserve itself, we spotted another colony where there was a pool in the rocks with a large number of young seals playing. It looked like a seal kindergarten.
The coastal plain now widened and the hills had a good covering of small trees; the views were spectacular and typical of the scenery in Lord of The Rings. Further down the coast we stopped to take photographs of a large sea bird, which allowed Ian to get up quite close. Linda became artistic and took photos of an old bleached row boat.
We arrived in Kaikoura at about 5.30pm and we are stopping at the White Morph Motel on the esplanade with a beautiful outlook of the bay.
Very good accommodation with a breakfast café next door.
Kaikoura got its name from an ancient Maori explorer who stopped to eat crayfish in the area. He thought that it was so good he named the place after it: kai meaning food and Koura meaning crayfish.
We went out for dinner and had a beautiful meal of butter fish, courgettes, potatoes and peppers with a hollandaise sauce.
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