30 degrees, sunny
We left Christchurch and headed north towards Kaikoura – a three hour journey according to the satnav. The plains of Christchurch/Canterbury are quite large with mountains off in the distance on both sides and the drive was fine but this road was not a smooth as those we drove on in the North – probably because of the earthquake back in 2011 and smaller ones since then. Consequently the noise from the stuff rattling in the motorhome was enormous! When we stopped for coffee we tracked a lot of the rattles down and so we could actually have a conversation after that.
We arrived at our campsite by about 2 pm – much nicer site with grass pitches and lovely views of the snow capped mountains not too far away. Then people started arriving and we found ourselves wedged in between two other motorhomes with just about enough space to sit outside between us.
We decided to go for a swim at the beach, but when we got there it was very disappointing after the lovely sandy beaches we’ve seen so far. This was a huge bay of grey pebbles of various sizes and at the high tide line a wide swathe of debris, mostly wood and seaweed – not much rubbish, which made it very un-enticing, so we gave it a miss.
The town centre was purely built for tourism, as it seems the whole reason for the town being here is for the sea life; whales, dolphins, seals, albatross, etc. And the crayfish.
Back at the site the weather suddenly changed at about 6pm and clouds rapidly obscured the mountain and temperature dropped quite quickly so we ate in the van.