Seafood, Seals, and Sunrises in Kaikoura

About two and a half hours north of Christchurch is a gorgeous little beach town. This very easily is one of Eric’s and my favorite beach towns in New Zealand. Kaikoura is known for its wildlife, and there are many different whale and dolphin watching boat tours. They are also known for their abundance of seafood, specifically the crayfish.

While we were freedom camping in Kaikoura, we got to witness some of the best sunrises that we have seen while in New Zealand. The sky in this area loves to just burst with color, and we were greeted with pink and red skies each morning, along with some stunning snow-capped peaks to the west. We also were blessed with some of the best weather we have had in months, so our spirits were higher than usual. This also led to the decision of giving Eric a much needed haircut (see our video for how that turned out!).

The rocky sea beds that line the coastal town make it a great place for the crayfish. Kaikoura, in Māori, literally means ‘to eat crayfish,’ so it was a delicacy we did not want to pass up on while in town. These crayfish are more like rock lobster to us, and were much larger than any crayfish we would be accustomed to seeing in the States. We ended up going to Kaikoura Seafood BBQ, one of the most famous spots to get these crayfish. Kaikoura Seafood BBQ is a little food truck right on the water, that gets trailered in and out each day. We ended up getting the seafood sampler platter, along with half a crayfish (about the size of a medium lobster – minus the claws). We felt like this would give us the best overall sample of the seafood here. In the platter, we got scallops, green shell mussels, prawns, a piece of whitefish, a crayfish fritter, and a baitfish fritter. Everything, in addition to the crayfish, was delicious. We were incredibly happy with all of it, and I think we would do the exact same thing if we went back! The crayfish was probably my favorite part, and the meat was sweet and similar to that of a lobster.

Along with great seafood, there are several hikes along the coastline, and they did not disappoint. Our favorite hike started by walking up to the top of a cliff, and along the cliffside. It provided stunning views of the Kaikoura mountain range northwest of us, and the ocean surrounding us. There was also a lot of pasture land out there, so we took our time along the trail and chatted with some curious calves. The trail eventually led down to the water, which we walked along to bring us back to the van. This part of the hike was filled with fur seals, many of which were babies. We spent several hours watching them run around and play. They are incredibly entertaining, and they make the silliest sounds.

We did not get to do any whale watching tours or dolphin cruises this time around, but we were lucky enough to see a pod of dolphins before we left. There were a ton, maybe ten to fifteen, jumping through the water as we were driving around. We got to watch them for a long while, and my guess is that they were dusky dolphins. While I would have absolutely loved to see a whale, I’m still very happy with the wildlife that we did get to see while we were there.