Kaikoura, New Zealand Travel Blogs

Kaikoura Whale Watching
Sep 5, 2004 (14 photos)

... to get to Kaikoura and the drive was stunning with more of the mountains becoming clearer after each corner. Our hostel in Kaikoura (the Dusky Lodge) was gorgerous with lots of log fires, massive kitchens with huge oak tables and an outdoor deck looking ...

A whale's tail
Dec 22, 2006 (14 photos)

The summer holidays had arrived. With a spring in my step I boarded the Air New Zealand flight from Auckland to Christchurch. I gazed out of the plane window at the velvety blue sea, the warm and shining arc of Golden Bay, the long tongue of sand ...

Dusky Dolphins
Nov 11, 2005 (11 photos)

... , so after a scenic 2 hour drive, we stopped at Hanmer Springs. Thankfully Stu had forgotten to bring his 'trunks' to New Zealand, so he'd bought some altogether more fashionable swim shorts the previous day. We paid just $10 each and proceeded to have ...

Kaikoura Part 1
May 1, 2005 (10 photos)

Kaikoura We left Christchurch at 8am and had a long drive to Kaikoura arriving early afternoon. A combination of the Pacific Ocean, deep trenches and underwater canyons up to 3 KM in depth that are only a few Km's away from the shore and a marine ...

Whale Watching in Kaikoura
May 12, 2008 (23 photos)

Another day and with it brought the anticipation of seeing whales! Now as we are well and truly running out of diverse descriptive words to emphasise what we are seeing...... we are just going to list a whole load here and you can assign them yourself; it ...

Kaikoura Part 2
May 1, 2005 (5 photos)

... plane in the hanger (by pushing it there) and I was given my certificate and driven back to town. I really want to do this again. My new path in life to be a pilot. I had a great day to day again a lot of firsts. Tomorrow I head back to the North Island ...

Hamner to KaiKoura
Jul 30, 2005 (3 photos)

... have as many showers as you want but you cant beat a good soak. If you want to find the older generation of people in New Zealand then look no further. Due to the spa pools having certain qualities, you get a lot of old people clambering into the pools ...

The 8th Wonder of the World
Mar 21, 2008 (8 photos)

... Track (one of the most highly rated 3 day walks in the world) and also of Sutherland Falls, the highest waterfall in New Zealand. Milford Sound was spectacular and was dubbed by Rudyard Kipling as the 8th Wonder of the World. One of Queenstown's ...

Escape From Milford Sound
Sep 5, 2003 (10 photos)

... the weather to clear (the bad weather seems to have continued to follow us)so we can go swimming with dolphins. Our last day in New Zealand is next Tuesday when we'll be leaving Middle Earth for 3 weeks in Oz. We hope you all had a nice Labor Day ...

Mpegs Road Trip day 3
Dec 16, 2006 (64 photos)

... we head back we will today drive up to through Mt Lyford & Kaikoura which is a must see if you ever find yourself in New Zealand; it is stunning.   Mt Lyford is on the way to Kaikoura so we stop off for breakfast at this huge log cabin style ...

Seal spotting...and hitching!
Aug 25, 2005 (10 photos)

... a bad effort, although admittedly I spent a further $10 at the cafe. Typically, and for the first time since I arrived in New Zealand, the Intercity coach was late - 20 minutes late! I was getting agitated, but I called Sealord to explain that I might ...

Christmas at Kaikoura
Jan 10, 2005

... its 3,483 residents is thriving on its booming tourism based around observing its unique marine wildlife. A staggering 1.4 million people visited Kaikoura last year. There is only one whale watch company, they are Maori owned and its a very well oiled ...

Anzac Day
Apr 26, 2007 (4 photos)

... day, which apart from being a public holiday; it also meant that everywhere was closed until 1pm. Like most places in New Zealand, Kaikoura was another beautiful town. As it was quite small, it was very easy to explore and we spent the morning taking ...

Diving in New Zealand
Mar 2, 2004

Well this one's going to be short and sweet. I hadn't planned to stop in Kaikoura at this point in my trip, but there was the chance of a job in a dive shop so I stopped off to check it out. Unfortunately the job didn't work out but I did get a chance ...

Dolphin Encounter
Mar 8, 2006

I had an overnight stop in Kaikoura where I had an early night as I had to get up at 5am to go swimming with the dolphins. After climbing into my wetsuit and flippers I boarded the boat. The sea was quite rough, a large swell but thankfully I didn't get ...

I piloted a plane!!!
Nov 12, 2005 (2 photos)

... I get home with all the money that I'll have left after travelling around Oz for a month. Yeah right. Anyway, back to Kaikoura. It's a nice place....... Skip to the end... beach is a bit rubbish, didn't see much wildlife, it rained a lot on Sunday and ...

Best of Kiwi: Fish and wine
Oct 22, 2005 (5 photos)

... - low cloud and drizzle set in as we continued up the coast. It certainly was a drive of familiar landscapes! We reached Kaikoura, billed as the marine wildlife capital of the South Island, at about 4pm on Wednesday. Kaikoura is renowned mostly for the ...

New Zealand - Kaikoura
Jan 6, 2007 (8 photos)

... Kaikoura in our third attempt to join a whale watching tour. Our first two tries were from Christchurch soon after arriving in New Zealand and, despite the weather seeming perfect for sailing, the trip was cancelled and the later one we were moved to was ...

Go East, Young Man
Nov 1, 2005 (4 photos)

New Zealand - Canterbury region
Dec 18, 2006 (20 photos)

... the Region. The first of these attractions that we visited was the town of Akaroa (touted as the French Riviera of New Zealand), 1.5 hours from Christchurch. The main reason for visitors to make the journey out to this small coastal town buried deep ...

Off the Shelf
Feb 27, 2005 (15 photos)

... few minutes gives you enough time to feel its presence. What was strange for me was that I'd previously passed through Kaikoura with my folks just after the New Year, as we drove from Nelson down the East Coast to Akaroa. I don't know why but yesterday ...

Wildlife Special
Oct 17, 2004 (40 photos)

... sun was shining and the wind actually calm for a change, we were in the Pacific Ocean just off the shore of Kaikoura, with wetsuits, flippers, booties, hoods, masks and snorkels - everything we needed. We were both a little scared, a little apprehensive, ...

Mistaken Identity
Nov 2, 2005 (1 photos)

Sleepy Seals
Oct 1, 2006 (6 photos)

... fur seals, dolphins and cray fish among others. It made sense to follow suit so I booked the Intercity from Christchurch to Kaikoura and arrived at around 6 in the evening. I booked into a hostel called 'The Sleepy Whale' simply because it was right next ...

Whale Watching in Kaikoura
Jun 5, 2005 (8 photos)

... mountains. The weather was interesting - it went from rainy to fine to grey to drizzly. Sounds just like home! Arrived at Kaikoura late afternoon, and had enough time to visit the seal colony before dark, and do a brief walk on the Kaikoura Peninsula ...

Thar' She Blows
Aug 3, 2009 (21 photos)

... pretty great: there was a live commentary from the conductor, and it was incredibly scenic. That's one thing I really like about New Zealand: since it's so small, during the two hours we were on the train we went through mountains and over plains, went ...

Having a whale of a time
Aug 7, 2004 (3 photos)

... as there were lots of big CAT diggers & dumpers to watch, also had the blue Pacific & black sand to look at. Kaikoura is a sleepy little village (takes 10 minutes to walk through the whole thing) that revolves around the marine wildlife. Loads of trips ...

Swimming with the dolphins!
Apr 6, 2007 (13 photos)

... you.  It was really cool to be able to see these guys in their own world and on their terms.  It was absolutely brilliant! P.S. We have more photos of Kaikoura, below the surface (& Abel Tasman) on a disposable camera...to follow soon.

Getting close to nature
Mar 8, 2004 (10 photos)

... by the drowsiness of the medication and desperately hoping that I wouldn't fall asleep and miss the whales! We headed out from Kaikoura and across the continental shelf, which comes very close to land in Kaikoura, so that we were in the areas of deep ...

Marine Mammals galore
Mar 7, 2004 (4 photos)

... whales pass through during their annual migrations. We went out on a whale watching trip in one of "Whale Watch Kaikoura"s flashy catamarans (complete with 3D graphic screens for showing the underwater landscape - how much money do they make?!). After a ...