Kaikoura and Wine Country

After returning from the eight-plus hour TranzAlpine train ride we treated ourselves to a nice dinner at the “Cook N With Gas” restaurant. We got chatting with our waitress about our visit to the south island and that we were heading up to Kaikoura and through the wine country. She mentioned she worked on the weekends at Pegasus Bay and highly recommended their wines and restaurant.

We set out on a beautiful morning from Christchurch. Kaikoura sits along the rugged east coast and is noted for whale and dolphin watching; we were hoping to catch a glimpse of some. There is no lack of outdoor activities in Kaikoura from backpacking, diving, kayaking, bird watching, to cave tours and wine tasting, and much more.

We caught our first glimpse of the water but no marine life,

. . . instead some outcrop islands, and lots of kelp.

We aren’t there yet, there’s more road and some tunnels through the mountains to go!

and then we saw the sign . . . Funny thing, the white gates you see behind the sign leads to the Kaikoura Winery. How very convenient for us, we didn’t have to try and find it.

Mick drove straight through along the coast and we stopped off to walk out on the beach on the outskirts of the town. It was hazy like that. It’s not the Jersey Shore Toto.

It was warm and sunny, hazy over by the snow splashed mountains.

Not sure if we were heading into, or out of the city limits, but we drove a little further and discovered these carved (I think, driftwood) statues on the beach.

We did find the main drag through Kaikoura, stopped for some wool shopping and seek out where in town was the place to have lunch. The lady in the shop told us to leave the car in the parking lot and just stroll along the main street. She recommended the Aroma restaurant.

We wanted to make sure we had enough time to stop at the Kaikoura and Pegasus wineries. So, we didn’t stay in Kaikoura too much after lunch. The Kaikoura winery sits atop a hill and overlooks the water. The gal in the tasting room said had we come the day before we would have had a show of humpback whales playing in the surf. They were entertaining for a couple of hours. A day late, and a dollar short. But the view from the tasting room was spectacular all the same.

Can you believe working there and staring out the window everyday to see this view and the changes with the weather; even without the whales it’s just breath-taking. Those are just big rocks in the surf, still no marine life! We did a tiny taste; Mick still had to drive back through the mountain and this time we’re on the waterside! The winery is noted for their whites so we bought a bottle of their Sauvignon Blanc.

Heading back southward and a stop over at Pegasus Winery.

Pegasus Winery has the famous wine bottle chandelier in their dining room. We were able to still get some tasting but the dining room was already closed. I bought a bottle of the wine I had at Cook N With Gas, a Pinot Noir but the wine is not bottled under the Pegasus label. We did pick up a Riesling from Pegasus Bay.

We weren’t sure what our limit was for bringing in liquor/wine or how much room and weight we would have in our suitcases. We divided the four bottles among our luggage. We were considerably overweight but luckily Mick has Premier Executive status on United Airlines (and all the Star Alliance member airlines) and we were forgiven Otherwise we were going to have to drink whatever wasn’t allowed before we boarded the plane for Singapore.

Since we were too late to visit any other winery, we headed back to our hotel with prospects of returning some time during the next two days. Tomorrow we explore Akaroa, the historic French and British settlement nestled in the heart of an ancient volcano.