Day 7: Wednesday 4th December
A new day, a new dawn, we were now travelling to the east coast where the weather promised to be brighter. We left Arthur’s Pass in pouring rain, popping back to a nearby viewpoint to see if it looked any better today. Unfortunately it really wasn’t and we got soaked again. We made good progress along the pass and gradually the weather got brighter. We came across a good place to stop for a short walk with some amazing rock formations. It is known as Castle Hill and these ancient limestone rocks are smooth, sculpted, and really spectacular. It is a great place to stop for a walk and maybe a picnic. It was at last dry but there were incredibly strong winds.
The journey across to Kaikoura took quite a while but the weather was improving the whole time the further east we went. After another tea/ coffee and cake stop at a cafe along the road we eventually arrived at Kaikoura around 4.30p.m. in brilliant warm sunshine, such a nice change again. We checked in to Admiral Court Motel. We had a beautiful room, well it was more like a whole flat as our room was upgraded to a family suite with two separate bedrooms, a big kitchen area, table and chairs and a lounge area. It was all beautifully decorated and the owners who had only taken it over a month ago were friendly, as was their Jack Russell, and helpful. This was our favourite motel of the holiday 10/10. They suggested we might like to take a walk over the headland known as Point Kean, then back along the beach. As we were a bit limited on time we actually drove approximately 3/4 mile to the end where there was a small car park but we had to park on the road even in early December, so I am sure it does get very busy after Christmas.
It was a great walk with wonderful views, lots of sea birds, many unidentified by us, some were red billed gulls some seemed like a NZ gannet and we saw quite a few fur seals. The sea was an amazing azure blue and with the mountain backdrop, it was a beautiful setting. It took over 2 hours and we returned about 7.00 just in time to walk across the road to the Pier Hotel for dinner. I had booked a sea view table about a month before which was just as well as there was a notice on the door saying they were full tonight! We had a lovely meal in this bustling restaurant with good service and a great view.
I really loved Kaikoura, obviously helped by the weather which was now a warm 23C. Our motel was in a great quiet spot at the far end of the town but close to the sea and for walks over the headland. It even had two good restaurants a stone’s throw away. Sadly we only had time to sample one of them.