Friday 27th January 2023
Kaikoura is derived from the Māori words Kai (eat) and Koura (crayfish), and apparently the town is renowned for its fresh crayfish. So it’s obviously on our agenda to try some before we leave. Firstly though, we decide to check out the Kaikoura Museum. Fortunately we can leave our bags at the Kaikoura Gateway Motor Lodge (where we stayed last night), so we don’t have to lug them around with us.
The Kaikoura Museum had a special exhibit on the 2016 earthquake, which I’m ashamed to admit I was completely ignorant about – I’d no idea that an earthquake of this magnitude had even occurred here. It was quite an eye opening exhibit, the earthquake lasted for a full 2 minutes and Kaikoura was completely cut off from both rail and road access.
The rest of the museum focused on Kaikoura in general, and in particular the diverse range of marine life. It was pretty interesting to visit.
We walked along the seafront and came across a small food truck, the Itty-Bitty Bakery, which specialised in pies. Now Pete and I are both pie fans, and apparently pies are a thing in New Zealand so we felt we had to try one. The smoked brisket pie was amazing, probably the best we’ve had yet in New Zealand.
We still had a bit of time to kill, so walked along the beach. The day was slightly grey and overcast but it still looks beautiful out to see.
We came across a pop up art gallery, just opposite the Kaikoura Museum, so decided to have a look inside. There was an interesting selection of artwork, all of which was for sale.
It was now lunchtime so we went to the Craypot Kitchen & Bar Kaikoura to finally try some crayfish! It wasn’t at all cheap ($90 for 1/2 a crayfish and chips!) so just got one between us and also shared a portion of prawn dumplings. We enjoyed the crayfish but definitely didn’t think it was worth $90 (mainly because there’s not much meat to it, although we already knew that would be the case). We’re still glad we tried though, as couldn’t leave Kaikoura without eating crayfish! And the dumplings were very tasty and much better value.
For dessert, we went to nearby Poppy’s Parlour for some ice. They’ve got a range of homemade flavours along with fresh fruit ice cream. Pete went for the fresh fruit blueberry and I had chocolate and hazelnut. It was very good ice, and a generous portion (which seems to be often the case in New Zealand!)
By now it was around 2.30pm so we walked back to our motel to pick up our bags then went to the train station, to catch the Coastal Pacific to Christchurch. We were a little early, but this gave us time to find a water tap to top up our bottle of drinking water.
The train ride was lovely, passing through stunning scenery. Again, there was commentary telling you about the various things that you were passing by as well as a few historical stories and Māori legends.
We arrived in Christchurch around 7.30pm and as it was starting to rain took the lazy option of getting an Uber to the airport to pick up our hire car. It turned out to be another souped up, very new Yaris, but this time with 5,000 km on the clock (our last one in Aukland had only 25km and that new car smell).
We drove to the supermarket to pick up some things for a light supper, and were surprised by the crazy expensive wine on the shelves!
We then went straight to the Admiral Motel where we’re staying tonight. We timed it well, as it started absolutely pouring down with rain a few minutes after we arrived. The motel room itself was basically an entire house! It had a huge living room and full kitchen, as well as a separate bedroom and bathroom.
For dinner, we cooked pan fried pork and prawn dumplings, followed by scrambled eggs and smoked salmon on toast.
We then relaxed in the sofa with a glass of wine and an episode of Stranger Things on the big TV.
Emma and Pete’s Asian Adventure 