Back on the train today, this time for a one day stop in Kaikoura. We were up early for the 7 am train (another one packed to the gills but very few in the open air car). I walked around a bit before we left and saw a rainbow!
It was more overcast than when we went the other way on the train, but the scenery was still bucolic. Kaikoura is a small touristy, seaside village specializing in whale watching and dolphin encounter tours.
In 2016 a 7.8 earthquake hit Kaikoura. Our shuttle driver told us the shaking went on for 2 minutes! Parts of Kaikoura were raised by 1 meter and a section of the coast was raised by 9 meters! For over 3 weeks there was no access by road, and it took 1 year, 1 month and 1 day for the northbound road to reopen. Most buildings and businesses were rebuilt and ready by late 2019, but of course the pandemic hit and everything closed back down again. This is the first summer they’ve been back to regular business.
We had an early lunch and a poke around the shops then found out our afternoon dolphin swim had been canceled due to rough seas. This was a bummer as we had both really been looking forward to it, but it meant more time to enjoy the beautiful mountain and ocean views and we could get to our farm stay accommodation earlier than planned.
We stayed at a place called Wacky Stays in a ‘gypsy caravan’. They also have a cottage, yurt, teepee, covered wagon and train car for people to stay in. It’s a beautiful spot at the base of the Kaikoura mountains, from our house truck we could hear the chickens and sheep and see the llamas. The owners lead llama treks, we had been hoping to do one but they were fully booked for the time we were there.
We arrived in time to participate in the twice daily animal feeding- Annemarie helped feed the chickens (so many sweet little chicks!), I got to feed one of the very large pigs and we both got to feed the alpacas, llamas and deer. There were also bunny rabbits and sheep. The very impressive hen house was shaped like a gigantic chicken! It was a really cool place to spend the night.
There is no internet service but the caravan had a tv and dvd player and they had a list of literally hundreds of dvds we could borrow. I’m pretty sure they bought out a video store that went out of business in the early 90s given the titles available! We opted to have a quiet night after enjoying dinner in the outdoor kitchen (there was also a small kitchen in the caravan). The sunset was very pretty and we got to see the deer having an evening snack.
