Kaikoura

We took our first family trip this weekend: an overnight visit to Kaikoura. It's about 2 1/2 hours north of Christchurch, on the east coast. Perhaps this map will help illustrate:


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Kaikoura is known for whale watching, but we didn't do that. We just looked around a bit and visited a seal colony. Here's an overview of the town, as seen from a lookout point.

The seals are right there on the beach. You can walk right up to them and poke them in the face if you want to (not recommended). It's crazy. There were signs asking visitors to stay at least 10 metres away, but no one did. Not that people were touching the seals or anything, but they could have. The seals didn't seem too worried though.







Quinn wasn't terribly impressed.

We had heard there were gorgeous mountains nearby, but it was a cloudy afternoon and we couldn't see much. And then suddenly, the clouds broke and we saw them. Wow.

I mean, WOW.


Driving back south to Christchurch, we stopped a couple times to look out at the sea. It was particularly moody looking. Rain is so much more beautiful on a sea coast than inland.