The drive from Franz Josef Glacier to Kaikoura was the longest and most arduous that we had to undertake on our New Zealand tour, some 540 kilometres over winding, unlit back roads and over the Lewis Pass. It took us about 7 hours to complete the journey to Kaikoura, arriving at the dead of night in a Department of Conservation campsite in the middle of nowhere with the usual facilities consisting of…. a hole in the ground for the toilet and nothing else.

We were in Kaikoura to maybe try some whale watching (sperm whales in this neck of the woods) to see some seals and do some tramping along the picturesque coastline. Kaikoura is on the coast and is famous for being overlooked by beautiful mountains. We re-evaluated our plans when we woke up in the morning as, for the first time since we'd arrived in New Zealand, the heavens had opened and it was pouring down. A foggy mist had also settled over the town which meant that we couldn't see the mountains despite their close proximity. The poor weather and visibility meant that we decided against going whale watching (the price was also a bit steep we thought) and the three hour nature walk was reduced to 30 minutes walk on the cliff tops looking at the beautifully rugged coastline. We did get to visit the seal colony (it is a smelly place!) just outside of town where around 20 seals were sleeping, on the rocks, in plants, on the road - seems that seals like to sleep anywhere. Our plans for the day curtailed we spent the time productively sorted out a lot of jobs that build up whilst you are travelling all the time; making sure that the campervan was in tip top shape, Craig got his first haircut for 4 months and Gemma managed to catch up on emails to some of her friends.

For some time now we have been physically travelling virtually every Friday and Saturday night, probably for the last 2 months. As it was Saturday night we just had to take the opportunity to have a night out and sample some New Zealand pubs. Kaikoura is a very small town with 3 "proper" pubs, the Adelphi (a pool hall/pub), the Whaler (food and jukebox) and the Strawberry Tree (live band playing jazz/reggae fusion - yuck!). We availed ourselves of all of the facilities and had a good night, somehow managing to keep ourselves amused until gone 1 in the morning.