Day 9: Kaikoura

I didn't sleep much last night. A part of it was due to how close we had parked to the beach. The rising tide and the crashing surf getting closer woke me up every few hours. I was able to take some pictures showing just how close the water line was getting to us around 2:30 this morning, which I thought turned out well, all things considered. When we finally woke up at 7:30, there were surfers already hitting the water. We made our way into town and went to the iSite. The iSite's, with exception to the one in Queenstown, have been great for information. They have a true handle of what's going on in their regions, and the fact that they will make arrangements for activities and accommodations for you anywhere in the region and beyond is a big plus. Even helpful advice such as where to free camp has gone a long way to helping form our opinion of them. One thing that works against this type of cooperation and offering of services in Canada is the separation of the tourism industry between federal and provincial authorities. Something to think about.

At the iSite, we booked ourselves in for a 3 hour seal kayaking adventure, and got some information on other activities going on in the area. Our first stop was a limestone cave walk. This cave was found purely by accident in the 1950's. They were using the hillside as a limestone quarry, for limestone fertilizer. One day, a blaster detonated his explosives and opened up a massive hole in the ground, discovering the cave we walked through today. The stalagmite and stalactite formations were stunning, despite the small stature of the cave, and there were several instances that the formations had taken on the appearance of either people or animals. We stopped off at "The Why Not Cafe" for lunch before our kayaking adventure. This is where I screwed up big time. I ordered their seafood platter, which is basically deep fried cod, deep fried squid, deep fried mussels, and deep fried crab, along with fries. Fish and chips on steroids. Well, fish and chips on good days leaves my stomach queasy. It's the batter that does me in. It sits like a lead weight, and fills me right up. Not exactly what you want to do to yourself when you are about to hit the ocean in a kayak for the next three hours. In any case, we made our way to the rendezvous point with our guide and she took us to the South Bay area of Kaikoura to launch from. After filling out the waiver forms, we suited up but before going into the water, she noticed that the surf was getting rough in the area. With all the gear on, it was already stifling hot. She had us get back into the van and we took off for the North Bay area where the surf was calmer. After giving us a quick lesson on paddling technique, she set us into the water and off we went.

We were on the tour with another couple from Britain. I was enjoying the smell of the sea, the conversation, and the scenery. All the while, my stomach was, thus far, calm but I was starting to get a bit bloated from digesting the huge meal. I'd already had Jenny loosen up my life jacket a bit as it was on too tight. I had a bad feeling.

After paddling for about a half hour, we reached this outcropping known as the Seal Colony. They were out there in abundance and several of them slid into the water to play as we came near. I pulled out my camera from its waterproof bag, and started shooting. This is where the trouble started. After a few minutes of looking through the viewfinder, my stomach lurched. I could feel lunch churning. After holding myself together for about a half hour, I couldn't hold it anymore. A large swell passed underneath us, and I spewed over the edge of the kayak. It wasn't much, unfortunately it was more of a dry heave than anything else. I heaved a couple more times on the way back to shore at the end of our 3 hours, and I've learned a few lessons. The first is to never eat fried seafood or a huge meal right before hitting the water. The second, is that I can still maintain my paddling rhythm while hurling over the side of a kayak.

My sea sickness aside, the seals put on a good show for us. One seal had managed to kill an octopus, and after the kill, it went to town on the carcass. The seal would take, dive a few feet, then resurface just to flick the octopus sideways in order to rip a chunk of flesh off. It did this repeatedly, and at one point, it ended up splashing the girl in the other kayak who was none too keen about getting splashed with octopus carcass. The seal managed to keep us entertained this way for about a half hour. On our way back to shore, we got lucky and a group of four dolphins swam by us. They didn't swim along side us or anything, but we did get to see them which was an experience in itself. I missed out on seeing the dolphins up close in Milford Sound and this made up for it.

Kayaking was a lot of fun, and I'd gladly do it again, so long as no more fish and chips is involved.

Sadly, the excursion came to an end and we made our way back to the camper where I took an hour and a half nap, spent after dry heaving on the ocean. We're now in Blenheim, where we will be doing our bike tour of the wineries. We stopped at a McDonalds for supper (nothing quite like a Big Mac to make the stomach feel better, must've been all those Whyte Ave. nights that taught me this), and a supermarket to stock up on supplies. While at the market, we picked up a six pack each of our favorite beers from Speight's. I'm still trying to find out if we can get it in Edmonton, and if we can't, I'll be doing my damnedest to get it. Jenny even agrees that she may have found her new favorite beer.

The holiday park we're staying at tonight has the best setup I've seen thus far. Thus far, the holiday parks we've been to have had the dumbest setup for the grey water dump. There's either been a wall or an elevated platform to stick the discharge hose into, and it always ends up being higher than the bottom of the discharge valve. This park has a hole in the ground covered by a lid. Draining the tank has never been quicker. One more thing, we were surprised when we pulled in. It reminded us of being in Florida, down to the vegetation and even the colour and construction of the rental office. It seemed straight out of the bayou.

Our pickup for the wine tour is at 9:45 in the morning. This should be fun. Drinking and driving may be illegal, but nobody said anything about peddaling a bike...

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