It rained all night and Bob actually had to turn on the heat in the middle of the night, quite a change from the past few days and nights. The clouds lifted this morning and we enjoyed some beautiful mountain views as we left Hanmer Springs.  

We passed a "thrill seekers concession," with bungee jumping, jet boats, 4-wheeling, and other exciting ventures.
 
We drove through rural mountains and villages and crossed many one-lane bridges. There are several ski areas nearby. This is an agricultural area, and we saw many hillsides covered with sheep. They say there are 10 times as many sheep as people in NZ. Another major crop is timber, so the forests are neatly organized, with row after row of tall trees, almost ready for harvesting.  
 
After we reached Highway 1 again, the road was wider but there was much more traffic, including trucks taking cargo from ships in Picton to Christchurch and beyond.  

When we reached Kaikoura, it was raining again, but we stopped to watch the fur seals. Then after filling up with diesel, we drove north of town to visit Nin's Bin. Kaikoura means "to eat crayfish" in Maori, and I had read that this was the place to buy them. Their crayfish are very similar to our lobster, except they do not have the large claws. We purchased two nice size crayfish which were then wrapped in paper. They had been pre-cooked, so all we needed to do was steam them to warm them up and add some butter. They made quite a feast paired with our New Zealand wine.

Maori legend says that Kaikoura was the place where the demigod Maui sat when he fished the North Island up from the sea. Sounds similar to a Hawaiian legend where Maui repeated the feat. 

The village used to be the site of a whaling station, another similarity to the island of Maui. Now, like Lahaina, it is a whale watching center. The whales are mostly sperm whales, although there are also some orcas and humpbacks here. The weather today was much too rough for the whale watching boats to go out to sea.
 
Kaikoura is surrounded by mountains and we were treated to a view of snow-capped peaks around us this afternoon.