Kiakoura

CHAPTER 15

Having exhausted the West Coast’s driveable tarmac, we crossed back over the Southern Alps to see what the country offered in the area north of Christchurch.  Though we were effectively back where we started, this felt like new ground for us.  Our first stop was at the Kaikoura Peninsula- a thumb of land jutting out into the deep crevasse of ocean formed by the suture line of the two tectonic plates that make up New Zealand.  Nutrient rich water from the deep ocean flows up the crevasse, and is forced to the surface by the wall that is the peninsula, attracting an absurd abundance of sea life to the area.  Sadly, it was out of season for the locations most famous visitors, whales, but the government must have known we were coming and anticipated our disappointment, and they graciously put on an air show to make up for it.