Kaikoura, 2018

Kaikoura was a place we particularly enjoyed toward the end of our 2014 South Island stay, and we were sure to return in 2018. Yet more surprises awaited us. The major road work south of town might have been a clue, but we dismissed it as routine. It was not.

The Lewis Pass leads you eventually to the sea and some of the
better seascapes on the South Island

Seagull City

Toward Kaikoura

We'd hoped to see more porpoise entertainment, such as we saw
 in 2014, but there were only a few to be seen

Parked at the beautiful mile-long Norfolk Island Pine-lined
beachfront at Kaikoura

First sign of trouble: fence around the Mayfair

Shorter version: in November, 2016, there was a 7.8 earthquake
in Kaikoura; two persons died; relatively few buildings were
seriously damaged, mostly older ones; the real problem was that
two of the three roads that link Kairkoura with the outside
were severed and took many, many months to repair and restore;
and the seabed rose anywhere from 1 to 5 meters (!) in Kairkoura
and the once beautiful seascoast north of town

Storefront display on what happened...the store among those
closed

Container shoppes, as in ChCh

But life goes on, the roads are now open (during daylight hours),
and the tourists are back

Memorial garden walk...the arches are ancient whale jaw bones

The white-capped rocks give some indication of sea-bed rise;
looking toward the marina, which had to be re-dredged so the
whale-watching boats could use them again

Very old and beautiful N. I. Pines line the beach boulevard

At the marina