11TH - 13TH MAY

The drive up to Kaikoura took about two and a half hours, it was dark and windy and fairly uneventful. We had pre-booked a campsite in case we got there late, but we managed to get there just before it closed. Thankfully it was quite a good site with a nice big kitchen and TV room, as it was getting more and more windy and there were a few showers as the night went on.

We woke up to more rain, which lasted for most of the morning, but then stopped around lunchtime and we decided to go and check out the town and the headland at the end of the peninsula. The town is a quaint little place with some nice looking bars and restaurants, along with a good few really swanky looking beach-front apartments. It was at this stage that I realised that I had a cold - one night in a hostel dorm and 36 hours later I had a cold!!! It dawned on me how healthy a lifestyle camping was - I

hadn’t been ill in any way since Asia when we were staying in hotels and hostels. There was a seal colony at the end of the headland, with quite a few inhabitants. We were treated to the sight of a seal regurgitating his meal of raw fish, and all the seagulls swarming round to eat it up - YUK!! There was a walk along the tops of the sea cliffs which we decided to do, despite it not being the best weather. We came across a sign that claimed that the view from where it stood was the best in New Zealand!! It reminded us of the spot in Tibet which boasts the best view of the Himalaya - all we could see was cloud. We walked for about half an hour, and decided to walk back on the beach walk marked on the local map. It was a nice change, and the cliffs looked pretty impressive from below. What we hadn’t realised though was that the walk was passable only at low tide, and it came to an abrupt end just before we were back at the car park. The alternatives were to retrace our steps and then climb up the path