Two days of seafood in Kaikoura

  Kaikoura, South Island, New Zealand
Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Day 1.

Kaikoura lies on the Eastern coastline of the South island, a quick 2.5 hour bus ride from Nelson. In the thousands of miles I've travelled by bus over the years, the ride from Nelson to Kaikoura is without a doubt the most scenic I've had.  A unique aspect of NZ bus trips is the commentary which is provided by the bus driver along the way.  My trip was split into two rides, with a switch in Blenheim, a wine tasting town, to a second bus.  I had the same driver as my return trip from Abel Tasman and if this guy ever gets tired of being a bus driver, he's a turnkey opportunity for guided trips.  Every town, bridge or mountain was explained along the way.

We passed through the Rai Forest, which seems to be a new growth forrest of trees planted after logging.  Our bus climbed the passes through the trees with spectacular valley views.  From the pass, we descended into Rai valley, which is primarily dairy farms mixed with alpaca & sheep ranches.  We crossed the Pelorus river, which is more of a aqua-blue color than any other river I've seen, and dropped through Havelock, which is the mussel capitol of the world.

Our second leg travelled through the Queen Charlotte scenic route for more spectacular mountain views which eventually dropped to sea level where the terrain went instantly to lush green to rugged costal mountain.  It was about this time I finally pulled the camera out to take some pics from the window of the bus.  The ocean views from the bus were unbelievable.  Light blue surf dotted with seals, surfers and dolphins accompanied the remaining ride into Kaikoura. 

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Kaikoura translated means "a meal of crayfish".  To me, crayfish are the little mush-bugs you get boiled if you attend a refined, cultured event such as the "Crawdad Festival" in Isleton, CA.  I wasn't too excited about this culinary prospect.  I was happy to learn that in NZ, a crayfish is what we would call a lobster.  Kaikoura is all about seafood.  The town has accomodations for tourists, whale watching excursions and restaurants all conveniently lined up oceanside.  There are two beachside options where you can get crayfish, scallops, mussels and whatever fresh fish is around for about half of what you'd pay in a restaurant.  This is ideal so long as you don't mind eating under and umbrella without a waiter.

I gave the van seafood vendor a go with a scallops sandwich and it was excellent.  NZ scallops are totally different than the scallops we get in the U.S.  There's an addition part which is more squishy and sort of the consistency of foie gras.  It tastes the same, but if textures freak you out (they feak me out), it's best not to think about it too much.  I over thought this thing and while I got through the first half without problem, I ended up picking this appendage off of my last three scallops and donating it to the seagulls who watched me eat.

This is my lunchtime view from my roadside seafood vendor.

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... and this is me afterwards.






Tomorrow starts with a whale watching trip.  I'm told there's a 90% chance we'll encounter some of the resident spermwhales on our outing.