The mountains were even more beautiful this clear morning. The clouds are up higher in the sky and the wind had died down. We had loads of time between checkout from the hotel and check in at the train. The nice folks at the hotel let us linger so we did. We then went to the Kaikoura Museum which was a hodgepodge of items. The museum had a placard that explained that Kai means food and Koura means lobster, this is our kind of town. the museum had items from Māori ax heads, to taxidermy, to Western settler ephemera to natural history collections. Some fun facts we learned include when the lobsters migrate to mate they all line up in a row and then march together single-file. The last lobster in the line was called "Tail End Charlie" and it walked backwards so it could watch for predators. We learned about a noted female Paleontologist who had to wait 100 years to be recognized by the British Royal Society but was immortalized in the tongue twister "she sells seashells by the seashore". The giant squid that live in the Kaikoura trench have a digestive tract that passes through its brain. If they were to swallow anything too big, the chunk passes through its head the chunk damages the brain, killing the squid. After the museum we poked around town and ended up in Flo and Co. Here we bought some whitebait and some fries. We also got food for the train. We continued on the the train station where Leslie stayed and I walked back to the hotel. Leslie sat down next to a cute British woman, Amelia P. and the two of them spoke for an hour. She was traveling by herself and was about to go on the whale watching cruise. Leslie told her about how cool the Captain's Quarters was but that was going to be too expensive for Amelia. Back at the hotel, Dave the taxi driver helped me load up all the luggage and we drove the bags to the station. Leslie had just walked up the loading zone as we pulled in. She told me about Amelia and said how pleasant their conversation was. She also said how much fun it would be to upgrade Amelia's whale watch ticket to the Captain's Quarters, so she did! Amelia was overjoyed and was all smiles when Leslie told her.
Little Pied Cormorant
What popped up but a seal?
He looks like a bear here
A spotted shag
Waking up from his nap
Big Strech
Almost dry
This lady was sunbathing when the seal came up onto the beach
Leslie is chatting up the Gardner
He is volunteering at the park because who can wait for the council to get around to do anything?
A beautiful reflection of the sky on the creek
Cute people on the bird house
This picture has the whole town stretched out
A sperm whale jaw
Little Blue Penguin
There is an egg shortage in New Zealand but not here
A shag skelleton
a variety of stone tools
Before and after metal tools
War clubs and axe heads
A huge glass sponge five feet tall from the deep
Mary Anning the "she" who sells seashells by the seashore. Also a fossil hunter and paleontologist who specialized in Plesiosaurs
Fossils galore
A blacksmith and leatherworks
A big printing press
Great blacksmith sign
Kaikoura bay
This is funny list of the way they used nicknames to distinguish between the 13 James Boyds
Wolf Cub Pack, was it a beer?
We stepped into this shop, Flo and Co for a bite and takeaway for the train
"Whitebait" is a New Zealand delicacy, see the eyes and the spots along the side of the tiny fish
A new tongue twister, "He ate whitebait on white bread with eggs right"
It smelled more of fish than it tasted of fish
Serious about the coffee around here
Mmmmm making me hungry
Recommended Fish N Chips place. They don't seem to make any bad fish and chips in NZ
A whale bike rack
At the train station we see the Kaikoura Range
Cool little area by the river
All smiles for the upgraded tour
