Woken a little earlier than anticipated today as the volunteer fire siren went off around 8:30 am – at least it wasn’t earlier!

We bum about the apartment for most of the morning completing breakfast, admin and chores before preparing ourselves to head out

It’s a little drive through town and then we’re on the peninsula where we park up at the Fyffe Quay carpark at the end of the road

We walk along the beach route spotting many a lazy NZ fur seal

Past the Wooden Teepee is Whalers Bay where we have a pit stop for our packed lunch

After, we take the zig-zag path up to the top of the headland where the official Kaikōura Peninsula Walkway is

We take this to S Bay Parade and turn back but take the beach route back

This route is less looked after and not so recommended as there’s not too much land to keep spaced from the seals but it wasn’t too bad

There are many brightly-coloured buoys bobbing about in the ocean, not far from shore – these are crayfish traps and most likely hold dinner for some of those in Kaikōura ????

There was an earthquake in 2016 which actually made Kaikōura rise about 2 metres from where it once lay so the track will always mostly be dry and not effected by tides

Not far from shore lies the Kaikōura Canyon which is a branch of the deep Hikurangi Trough (at the boundary of two of the world’s crustal plates)

This geographic feature creates a convergence of cold and warm ocean currents, known as an ‘upwelling’ of tiny plants (phytoplankton) and animals (zooplankton) – this is why the area is such a hub for seals, dolphins and whales at the top of the chain

Maori history tells us of Rakaihautu, the first person to settle in Te Waka a Aoraki (the South Island) – his son, Rakihouia (Rakihoua), saw such abundance as he paddlied past here that he stopped to gather food

The name Kaikōura means food (kai) and crayfish (koura) and it is a shortened version of Te ahi Kaikoura Tama ki te Raki – the fire that cooked the crayfish of Tama ki te Raki

We do actually come across a part of the walkway where the path is blocked by seals trying to find a comfy rock – thankfully, there’s a cheeky cave cut-through

When we make it back to Whalers Bay, we get on the headland walk again and make a sort of figure of eight track to get a view of Point Kean before coming down to the car

Peckish, we pop by the I Sea Gelato truck around the corner and enjoy this on the beach with resting cormorants (see the featured image)

Following this, we make our way back into the town centre and scourer the restaurants here for some dinner, as well as spotting various street art

The busiest place is a fish n chippery on the corner, called Cooper’s Catch, and to get the best chance of getting a fish we like we get their standard fish and a snapper

Turns out that their standard fish is something called a school shark and we like it so much we get a second helping, as well as some more chips ????

Once finished, we head back to where we’re staying to do a little admin before bed