North to Kaikoura

Drove north today to a small peninsula town called Kiakoura. But not before dipping our toes in the sea and enjoying a delicious breakfast outside.

The journey took us through barren rolling hills and plenty of well kept vineyards. We stopped at a few deserted beaches when the highway came close to the sea, but decided not to surf until later.

At Kiakoura, we walked out into the cliff tops to look down on a colony of fur seals, then (and much more exciting) on returning to the van, found a couple of them just relaxing on the rocks by the van! Their fur looked a bit like a brown bears and they were stretching out and massaging their backs on the rocks looking very content!

Clouds were beginning to build during the afternoon. Yes, clouds! Great big black ones were covering the inland mountain tops and it was clearly raining heavily further north along the coast. We were just at the tourist office on the hunt for some wifi when the deluge arrived. The temperature dropped almost instantly. On the plus side, we found out that yesterday's Dolphins were called Hector Dolphins and are only found in New Zealand. Not only that - they also happen to be rather rare, with a population of only a few thousand! 

We drove out of town and parked up by a beach, jumped in the back and brewed up coffee! Oh the luxury of the campervan! 

Unperturbed by the rain, we drove along the coast for a few minutes to check out the variou surf spots. There didn't seem to be much going on, but at the 'point break' of Mangamunu our luck all changed!

With the hood up on my waterproof, I left the sanctury of the van, crossed the road and tip-toed over the railway line to get a look at the waves. The rain poured down.  Suddenly, out in the bay I saw something! A whale?! I shouted to Clare and as she joined me, we saw that they were Dolphins! Jumping clean out of the water and doing flips! Totally amazing! 

We'd been enjoying the show for a few minutes when a local surfer turned up. He said that they were also Hector Dolphins - maybe they're not so rare around here?! He then showed us where best to get the waves and asked if we were getting in. Well, we were already soaked by now, and if he was getting in, then we decided that we ought to too!

Some of the waves broke over very shallow water, so it was good to get some local advice. We both got a few nice rides as the rain poured down. We barely noticed the rain, but did notice the Dolphins still doing their acrobatics not far from the surf.

We camped a minutes drive away, twenty meters from the waters edge. A stunning camp spot whatever the weather. It continued to rain and we felt very happy.