South Island: Kaikoura
Kaikoura has a long history of whaling,
but has been reborn as a tourist destination with great restaurants (especially
fresh seafood) and terrific shopping, plus a host of outdoor activities including
hiking, diving, arts and crafts, surfing, fishing, and horse trekking.
One of the most accessible hikes is around South Bay
where hundreds of seals can be easily seen on smooth limestone tidal platforms.
We walked along both the Cliff Top Walkway which crossed a private field with
grazing cows (where a dog herded the fifty or so cows away from us without
the owner present), then dropped down to the Shoreline Route at low tide to
see the New Zealand fur seals up close. Very close.
