The Boys are back in town, boys are back in town...

I can’t believe we saw dolphins this morning from the train; and only 200 metres off shore.
We arrived in Kaikoura to find the high street full of the most amazing Harley Davidsons – including this gorgeous purple one (ridden by a lady of about my age – that’s taste!) She’s just taken off – Jen, you think Scooby’s loud!!!! So we’re sat on the beach front having our breakfast (well, the alarm did go off at 5.30 this morning – on purpose, as the free shuttle to catch the train was arriving just after 6!) The Harleys are on their way to a big convention in Christchurch this w/e – which explains why we found it hard to get a hotel room for yesterday. We ended up in a backpackers lodge in the very centre of the city, Cathedral Square. The accommodation was surprisingly good, and there was another of our “Guardian angels” who agreed to store out two big cases for the w/e! That made our trip this morning a great deal easier than it might otherwise have been.
We had a “chill out” day today – all this travelling takes it out of you! So, apart from a wander round the town to find some cheap shorts and a tshirt for me to swim in (I managed to get my swim suit out of my case and somehow put it back again rather than putting it in my rucksack!) we’ve just been lazing around the pool and the two spa pools. Hmm that’s the way to do it.
We found a really good restaurant for supper – having decided we weren’t bringing all the cooking stuff up here for three nights. So good in fact, that we’re going back again on Sunday evening! Only this time, Tricia and Jacques, the meal’s on you!! – our friends T and J were kind enough to give us some NZ$ for Christmas – we’re spending them on Sunday!
Kaikoura is Maori for Kai – food and Koura – Crayfish. So no prizes for guessing what we had for supper! We shared half a crayfish – so not the tiny ones you have in the freezers at home either!
NZ cuisine generally leaves a little to be desired. They are very good at cakes, pastries and sweet things, and they have amazingly good fresh ingredients – meat, fish ,seafood, vege. But rather like Scotland 15 years ago, pretty well everything is fried and often in breadcrumbs or batter! So you have to be a bit selective on your menu choices – we don’t help ourselves, both being such foodies and into healthy eating! Not that we’ve ever had anything badly cooked, it’s just the style of cooking that generally went out in the UK a while ago.
It was good to get the wet tent up and the glorious weather we had today got it dry very quickly. It was a good job we elected to find a site early as the site is full, possibly on the promise of a great weekend, weatherwise.
The quirky Whaleweigh Station next to the railway station was very busy today with people going whale watching. We shall be joining the crowd on Sunday, and we might even see an albatross. (No Monty Python jokes, please).
Now, you know when you are in the southern hemisphere as the moon starts high in the sky and then sets as night falls. True, or I’ve had too much to drink. It’s quite weird seeing it set in an anticlockwise direction. Kiakoura is also one of those places that everyone says you must visit to look at the night sky. Tonight the weather is so clear, the temperature has dropped as the wind blows down off the Kiakoura range (over 2500m high in places), and there is not a cloud in the sky. Should be good for mountain photos early tomorrow.