About 2 1/2 hours north-east of Christchurch is a peninsula called Kaikoura. This is a small picturesque town, population about 4,000, that used to be known more for the abundant crayfish off its shores. In fact, the word Kaikoura means "food" (Kai) and "crayfish" (koura). Today it is a popular tourist destination with many small hotels, motels, B&B, hostels along the road that runs along the coast. I stayed at the YHA Hostel and it's right there next to this road. At night I can hear the waves washing ashore and in the morning I look out at the ocean and snow-capped mountains at a distance.
There is an abundance of marine animals in this area because of a deep ocean canyon off its coast. This attracts a lot of food for these animals. So, some of the popular tourist activities here are whale watching, swimming with seals and dolphins, fishing, etc. I did three of these activities when I spent about 2 days here - whale watching, fishing, and swimming with dolphins, which I will talk about more in my next posting.
As I mentioned this area is well-known for its abundance of crayfish. However, I was surprised by the high prices of these crayfish. An average size crayfish can cost about NZ$80 in a local restaurant. I asked the locals why they are so expensive. They said they export a lot of it to Asia, mainly China and Japan, where they fetch high prices so they have to keep up with the market prices. On the fishing trip that I went on, we fished for sea perch but the fishing operator also has some crayfish traps that he set out to catch crayfish. We brought in a few and had a crayfish cookout. You cook them like you'd cook a lobster and they taste very much like lobsters. They are about half to two-thirds the size of lobsters but you can eat most of the crayfish instead of just the lobster tails.
Whale-watching is a big business here because a lot of whales come to this area to hunt for food all year round. The boat that I went on probably took about 50 people and we went out about 20 minutes off the coast. We saw a couple of whales and were able to stay close enough to take some good pictures. Other than these activities there is not much else to do except enjoy the scenery and fresh ocean air.
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| Beautiful Scenery along the coast |
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| These are called the Seaward Kaikoura Range |
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| A fur seal lazing in the sun |
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| Crayfish caught in the trap |
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| A crayfish cookout after a day of fishing |
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| A beautiful sunset |
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| More beautiful scenery |
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| Whales! |
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| Taking a dive |
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