Kaikoura

On the way back to Christchurch we stopped in Kaikoura, one of my favorite places (so far) in the south island. It's a ocean-side town with the Kaikoura Mountain Ranges in the backdrop. As soon as we drove up to the beach we saw a couple of whales fairly close to the shore swimming around. Pretty amazing, seeing as they don't usually come in that close. We watched them in the water for a while. They weren't super close to the shore but you could definitely tell what it was!

 

There are a lot of places along the beach near Kaikoura selling Crayfish, but this one is my favorite! Haven't tried it yet though (it's pretty expensive!)

 

 

There's also a seal colony there, so we stopped to take a few pictures.