Tramping around Kaikoura

Kaikoura is a small settlement nestled between the wind swept churning sea and snow capped mountain peaks - a beautiful location with fresh, salt laden air, blowing in from the sea (sometimes a little too fresh due to the large amount of sea weed!) with a wealth of activities for the outdoor minded… Water sports, fishing, mountain biking, cycling, tramping, swimming, seal and whale watching are all on offer here. The entire town seems to dwell a little on its ‘whale’ watching with murals painted on several buildings. The entire sea front is populated with B&B’s and hotels catering for all budgets from the backpacker to the flash packer ;)
Today I enjoyed freshly caught ‘Blue Cod’ (the seemingly small cousin of North Sea Cod), which was moist and full of flavour and provided the fuel for my tramp around the peninsula :) The hike(tramp) was due to take 3 hours and would cover some 10km of coastal landscape… To start with there was a quick hike to Point Kean and its seal colony - approaching I found several seals basking in the sun being overlooked by a small group overly keen tourists with video cameras focused on these lazing beasts who occasionally pleased the onlookers with a flap of their tales or yawn ;) But soon the tourists move on back to their cars and motor away - I on the other hand am on foot (and it would appear the only walker today!) and so decide to chance my luck on the coastal portion of the walk over the wave cut platform of limestone, which stretched around the cliffs of the headland… It was a close run affair as the tide was heading in and at two points I needed to climb around over the rocks of the cliff to avoid getting my feet wet!! However, it was worth the effort as the coastal landscape is breathtaking with pebbled beaches crunching underfoot, crystal clear water showing off the usually hidden from view limestone wave cut platform below the waves and rising cliffs with all the features that you would expect to find from faults to caves. There are also raised beaches which have developed their own ecosystems with salt tolerant species and grass with stacks & stumps now left isolated in these grassy fields - of course I had to climb one of these and once again was rewarded with fabulous views and a tricky descent (funny how climbing up is always easier than getting back down)… The area also contains protected zones in an effort to allow the marine environment to recover and bird colonies to thrive undisturbed.
The final leg of the tramp around the peninsula takes you back to the South Bay Road picnic area and information boards via a gravelled path, which has been ‘improved’ to a paved footpath… Well, I say improved, it already seems to be coming apart at the seems… But tourism has obviously led to quite a large amount of investment here to encourage more visitors. The end of the tramp leads me back over the narrow neck of the peninsula through hillside woodland and open pasture populated with cows… Yes, not sheep but cows!! The tramp has taken 3 hours and 5 mins with all the stops included so I feel like I have had a work out today :) Kaikoura is definitely worth a visit on any itinerary to the South Island and would be spectacular in winter with the snow on the peaks descending almost down to the town itself. I look forwards to visiting here again but for now I am moving on to Picton in preparation for the ferry crossing to the north island…