20/12/23 Weds: Woke up
at 7am and ate cup noodles before we drove to the nearby meeting point for our
2.5h Seal Kayaking Adventure (S$114.15 per pax). We were given booties, sunscreen
and filled in questionnaires before following the car carrying kayaks back to South
Bay… near to our Airbnb lol.
After briefing and
gearing up, we set off at 9.30am! All the kayakers were split into three groups
and each followed different leaders. We were the first group with Rosie and
other kayakers were from UK, Ireland, Canada and Germany. *I’d take the
easier selfie/wefie jobs whenever PotaTOHs go kayaking together and he will
steer.*
It was a misty morning.
We saw seals but no dolphins. We stopped near one of the shorelines and a few
swam past us. According to Rosie, they were males who finished mating in November
and were back in the area.Sky cleared up closer to noon!Had lunch at Slam Club
at 12pm. Spoke to the Singaporean waiter who’d been in New Zealand for eight
years and went through the horrible earthquake in 2016.He had “Dear Me” (NZD
21), which contained slow cook wild venison meat, onion relish, cheese, salad
greens and aioli. My “Quaky Chan” (NZD 21) had shredded hoisin roasted duck,
pickled slaw, cheese, salad greens, aioli, crackle and sesame seeds. I thought
I tasted pork lard in it too but it was not bad. Overall, mine was savoury but
his was sweeter.Walked around town for
a bit and I bought a pair of slippers for NZD 25. We then decided to visit
Kaikoura Museum (NZD 12 each) since we had nothing on in the afternoon. There
was a small exhibition, albeit unsure if it’s a permanent one, about the 2016
7.8 magnitude Earthquake right after the entrance. It lasted only two minutes after
midnight but brought along horrible consequences and lots of aftershock.Also visited the rest of the areas...
Pumped petrol (NZD
62.18 for 21.45L) and went back to our Airbnb to rest before going out three
hours later for our dinner at Coopers Catch. Costed NZD 30 for two fish, two
sausage and fries and one 1.5L Sprite. It was slightly less pricey compared to
many restaurants here. There were many people and it’s more a fast-food chain
it seemed. To me, the sausage tasted more like luncheon meat but the fish was
okay though… not the worst I’ve had here lol, albeit very salty.We went to check out
seals at Ohau Lookout Point at 7.45pm. Noisy seagulls and their youngs and there
were also many fur seals here but the stench was quite bad. *The baby fur
seals were cute-looking the way they moved clumsily on the rocks.*
Was back at our Airbnb by 8.30pm. It was 10+pm but I wanted
to see stars, so Potato brought me out to walk but it was so quiet and dark that
the scaredy cat in me told us to go back quickly lol. We saw lots of stars that
night!
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