Kaikoura

The drive was truly spectacular. Jeff started driving today and getting the feel for a right-hand-side steering wheel and being on the left-hand side of the road. It's an adjustment, to be sure. The scenery is amazing. Especially by the time you get near Kaikoura; mountains on the left, Pacific Ocean on the right. The water is an iridescent blue.

Kaikoura itself is, well, let's face it, it's a tourist trap. But it's still a beautiful place with plenty of legitimate history, a gorgeous coastline and a tonne of things to see and do.


We spent an afternoon at the Kaikoura Winery, sipping a variety of wines, snacking on fresh cheeses and looking out over the coast. Fog would occasionally roll in on the peninsulas around us... then disappear as quickly as it came. We bought a couple of bottles of wine to keep us entertained tonight.

Jeff says he finally feels like he is "in a different country" now that we've left the city and the scenery is unlike anything he's seen before. And because all the cars are on the opposite side of the road.