Kaikoura Peninsula

After a good night sleep we, me and Fred headed for breakfast in a nice coffee place close to the bike shop. A nice coffee, a tasty toast and a nice cheese scone wirh fresh butter (my understanding is that scones are a local saltly bread type of thing) kept me until the afternoon!
After munching while Fred was fixing a front fork i hit the road againg aiming the north. The weather forecast for the west coast looked a bit moist so changed direction and aimed for the east coast instead. Going on a north loop with an anti-clockwise direction this time.
First stop kaikoura, a spot famous for whale watching, surfing and crayfish-es! Thats all i knew at least. Driving the 2.30 hours i realised that I stop waaay less in points of interest along the roads. Prob cause i realised they are just too many. So i passed by all the wineries, some scenic road prompts and aimed for Kaikoura. The only scenic road i decided to actually take, cause i felt bad passing by so many things, turned out to be a dead end due to road works...pfff maybe this was not my day!
But then... just before i entered Kaikoura the road was parallel to the coast and a good viewing spot just clicked. I stopped and the moment i got out i saw them...dolphins! Lots of them in the distance and they were getting closer. I was impressed by the sight (if only i knew what i would experience later on...). Continued driving and got into town heading towards the seal colony with the aim to complete the hiking path which connects the two coasts of the pennislula. It is a looped hike that goes on a high trail along a ridge by the coast and then returns either the same way or...one can choose the coastline path which actually passes through the seal colony. No need to say what i chose...
At some point the big f...ers were sleeping in the middle of the trail and for sure they didnt want to move...quite the opposite, they were ready to stand their ground!
MTHRFCKRS!
I was walking silently like a cat until reallity struck and walked like a normal person, making noise, waking up a seal that looked me in the eye and instantly alerted the others! I was stuck not knowing what to do...thankfully one went to pee or sonething and now there was an opening for me to pass. Maybe it is my day after all . Took the chance only to find another bigger seal sleeping on the trail...this time had to climb a small hill and go through a cave to find eventually a clear path to the trail. It was a bit tricky...and scary...and funny but at the end it worked. At the finish/start of the loop two lamas were eating the grass...i just passed it, turns out nothing is weird these days.
Finished off the day with some local, expensive crayfish just because i felt it was a must. It was worth it. Bit surreal but while i was eating my lovely crayfish and enjoying the seaside view the lamas were passing behind me making aaaaall the weird noises one can think of.
I remembered all the crab eating techniques back when Oly was making us crabs for snacks/food and applied em...worked great!
Headed to the hostel, shower, laundry, cooking and eating and some discussion on what i should be doing the next day with the hostel owner. A girl from Germany overheard and said...'i did a really cool thing today...i swam with the dolphins'
After some minutes i set my alarm for 5am. The Dolphin encounter swim will be starting at 5.30! Simple as that.
Excited!Read more