Lyttelton - the Gateway to Canterbury and “The Meal of Crayfish” - Kaikoura
Wednesday 5 February
We had an easy, cruise up to Lyttelton – how beautiful Banks Peninsula looks from the boat, with its endless green hills, bush, bays and cave. We cruised into Pigeon Bay for a look around and then made our way down Lyttelton Harbour for the night. Geoff had a plan for our anchorage and I’m very pleased to say it didn’t include Lyttelton Harbour!
At first sight, we saw a Regent Seven Seas Voyager cruise ship tied up to the docks, which is very much a working port with its Liquid Bulk Terminal operated by several oil companies and which provides facilities for the discharge of LPG, petrol, aviation gas, bitumen and methanol, an Oil wharf, a number of well-established firms providing competitive stevedoring and provedoring services to ships in the port, cargoes of logs – of which we saw heaps being moved about by the forklift trucks - fertiliser, gypsum, cement, imported cars and fishing, cranes in action – it was all go. At the other end was Te Ana Marina, where Geoff’s Rally Guide suggested we tie up. Thank goodness he didn’t take heed of their advice and had somewhere a heck of a lot nicer in mind for us to anchor…..
Diamond Harbour – across the bay from the Port, named for the glints of sunlight on the water that look like diamonds. It was beautiful. Calm turquoise waters, a few locals’ boats at anchor, and a small wharf for the Black Diamond Harbour ferry service which connects it to the Port. So picturesque and peaceful, a far cry from all the activity that we could see across the bay, coupled with the odd announcement wafting over the water from the Seven Sea’s Ship! We had a lovely, leisurely lunch in the cockpit – one of “Geoff’s Specials” which included a whole heap of leftovers fried-up gourmet-style! A nice hour’s rest, and then we took the dinghy in, tied up to the wharf and hopped onto the ferry to discover Lyttelton.
In 2009, Lyttelton was awarded Category I Historic Area status, defined as an area of “special outstanding historical or cultural heritage significance or value” two years later in 2011 much of this historic fabric was destroyed in the disastrous 2011 Christchurch earthquake. Whilst there were a few odd, older buildings, there was also a mish mash of art deco, broken down, and new, buildings, coupled with a few old buildings that had been spoiled with modern windows and fittings. We walked both sides of the main street which took about 15 minutes and then headed into Eruption Brewing, a small micro-brewery, ordered a couple of drinks and sat on the balcony overlooking the street with a bird’s eye view of the Fresh Choice Supermarket (my planned next stop!). Topped up with a few more supplies, we headed back to the ferry, one nice photo opportunity was the pretty mural that accompanies Pilgrim’s Rock, marking the first jetty that was built on this site and where the settlers that came off the first ships to Canterbury walked to their uncertain futures!
And then it was back to Diamond Harbour wharf where we nipped back and put the shopping on the boat and went straight back to the wharf to tie up and have a walk around Diamond Harbour. Up the hill, past the sculpture by Alison Erickson, an artist from Waikari in North Canterbury, it depicts a mother and child with the words “Looking for something that will last” and combines family relations, personal contemplation and environmental concerns. It’s positioned on a rocky outcrop above Diamond Harbour looking towards Lyttelton. It was a lovely walk, lots of campers on their holidays enjoying the beautiful landscape, and then a gin and tonic for us at the ingeniously named Diamond Harbour Bar and Eatery (!) in the early evening sunshine.
Thursday 6 February
The Lyttelton box ticked, we were off again early this morning. We want to get to Kaikoura tonight, and with a few jobs done en route, including Geoff doing his impression of “The Laundry Guy”, we pulled into Kaikoura just before 6pm. Kaikoura is known as the village caught between the rugged Seaward Kaikoura range and the Pacific Ocean. The 2016 Kaikoura earthquake exposed new rock formations and concretions in the sea and lifted the seabed by up to 5.5 meters along the Kaikoura coast, so it made for a very, very tricky entry into South Bay with rocks all over the place. Fortunately, with Geoff’s skills it wasn’t a problem, and we tied up at the dock behind the Kaikoura Whale Watch boats. We just got ourselves all organised when this guy came along to ask our intentions! Apparently, the dock was for the day tripping and fishing boats, and he helpfully gave us a number to call, Ko answered and since it was past 6pm, he very kindly allowed us to stay when Geoff told him we’d be leaving by around 8.00am tomorrow.
Then it was time to search for some dinner. Off we went, not realising quite how far the town centre was. We stopped a car to ask for directions and the lady told us there was a short-cut on a track over the hill, it certainly looked do-able when we found it, but it was getting late and we weren’t sure just how late the restaurants would be serving. Nothing more for it, I thumbed a ride and a lovely guy, Jackson, with his boat in tow, stopped for us and drove us into town. Didn’t seem like much happening as most places were shut, so after getting a few whale-y pics in front of a very cool mural, we went into an Irish pub, bizarrely called Strawberry Tree (and reputed to host some of the world’s greatest musicians apparently, or so their sign said!) and had dinner, scallops and chowder for Geoff and fish and chips for me. You might be interested to know that Kaikoura means “Meal of Crayfish” in Maori and that half a crayfish on their menu was $124 – makes us realise how lucky we were with that bucket of 6 crayfish gifted to us by the fisherman in Milford Sound, and how much the tourists are getting stung! Back to the boat in a taxi and that was our night in Kaikoura done and dusted.
Friday 7 February
Plenty of action outside as we were lying in bed this morning, some of those sightseeing boats leave early to catch the whales and the dolphins, so we were up and off, heading for the Tory Channel and our entrance into Queen Charlotte Sound. We’re planning on being in the Marlborough Sounds until early March, with four separate lots of visitors and me with another side trip back to Auckland and Havelock North. We’ll be busy – lots more action ahead to report on!