The Great Coffey Road Trip: Day ten, Kaikoura 

Source: Tamati cuts up a cray in Kaikoura

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We got into Kaikoura at 7pm and it was soooo beautiful.

Rolled into the Whale Watch HQ where we would be broadcasting from first-thing Monday morning, and the mountains were lit with a surreal pink light. The water was calm like glass and a milky blue  certainly breathtaking.

But the morning of our weather broadcasts weren't quite so calm.

Gutted.

I woke up and it had been raining. Grey clouds were evident, even at 4am!

The other BIG concern was the forecast Southerlies, sweeping up the east coast of the South Island. We had lined up with Whale Watch the cruising into shore of their brand new, 40 foot boat. The Prime Minister had been there on Friday to launch it, and we wanted to check out the new cruiser for ourselves. This whole activity though was entirely dependent, of course, on the winds and calm conditions of the sea.

Well, despite the constant drizzle and rain, the winds did hold out for us! The new Wawahia boat came right up to shore - and it attracted plenty of attention, too. Locals came down for some free McCafe coffee and said they had spied the boat right up close to shore, and that usually meant there were whales by Whale Watch HQ. Not so, I'm afraid.

Had a fantastic wake-up performance from the local kapa haka group, and learnt the art of cutting open a crayfish, perfect for eating. It was a very yummy, but very rich breakfast - crayfish meat!

The drive up to Blenheim was pretty slow, with strong wind with heavy rains. It's cleared now, so here's hoping it holds out for Tuesday morning when we hit Seymour Square for some wine samplings in the country's wine capital.

See you tomorrow!

Cheers,
Tamati