Sun, Dec 15 - Birding around Kaikoura

We returned to the Encounter Café for breakfast - wonderful crepes and berries, another Baby Kiwi breakfast and their great Flat White coffees - and sat outside to eat on this glorious sunny day!   Bob suggested an auto loop, so we set off west on a little country road into valleys full of sheep and cows with surrounding high mountains.  It looked rather like Colorado with wide gravel rivers and high peaks.  We explored this for about 110 miles of lovely scenery with lots of one lane bridges but almost no traffic.

We circled east and back to the coast where we stopped at St. Anne’s Lagoon, a small nature reserve where Bob hoped to see the Cape Barren Goose, a squat grey goose with a yellow bill, and there were three right off swimming around, along with beautiful Black Swans with a group of half grown cygnets.  Then we saw several NZ Scaup, small dark ducks with yellow eyes, and Bob had two more lifers.

Black Swans

We headed back to Kaikoura and picked up some groceries at the Four Square Market, along with some ice cream bars for lunch, and then drove down to the point and found the tiny crayfish van (per their sign, The Original World Famous Kaikoura Seafood BBQ van!).  Although way more expensive than Maine lobster, we picked out a small half lobster which the van guys grilled for us and packed it up with rice and salad along with a container of seafood chowder for Bob.

 We dropped the food off at the apartment and returned to the South Bay to try for the Cirl Bunting once more.  Hil and I walked along the shore.  The beach there consisted of tiny smooth grey pebbles, really easy to walk on barefoot.   I waded in and measured the temperature of the water: 68 degrees!  We should have been swimming!

Pebble Beach

Beach wildflowers

Uplifted beach rocks

Bob finally gave up on the Bunting and we returned home at five.  One more load of laundry and then we cracked open the wine we had bought from Seresin, warmed up the chowder and the lobster and had a delicious starter on our balcony.  Maine, has nothing to fear from NZ crayfish, but it was fun to try the local specialty.  We divided the left over pappardelle from last night and finished the cherries we had bought from a roadside stand.

Maori whaler

Tomorrow we head up into the mountains and much colder climate!