KAIKOURA

Kaikoura is a small town on the Eastern coast of the South Island, NZ. Very friendly and filled with backpackers or "trampers". We all met for a superb brekky, then the gals went beach combing and the guys went hiking. They hiked the beach, then over hill and dale, in the tall grasses, and scurried after Dave as he set a fast pace on the road home. Unfortunately, none of them remembered a camera, so we had to take their word for their adventure which lasted all day and 7 miles of varied terrain.
After a quick tea break, the 3 gals wandered into town to shop and look at paua shell jewelry and other local interests. Looking for free WiFi we found ourselves in a unique wine shop. We were issued a card with a chip in it. Then we could insert the card into one of three "wine" bays. Each bay had a variety of red,whites,pinos,etc. One could choose a bottle of wine then press one of 3 pours: a taste,a half glass or a full glass. Put the issued wine glass under then proper spicket and voila! No bartender needed. Oh, we loved it! Really loved it! So that was a fun wine time, and we ended up buying a very nice bottle of Malbec.
When we met up with everyone again, the men informed us they had found a great beach seafood bar-b-que to eat dinner at. We piled into the van, set up a table and chairs,ordered a variety of seafood, and had a picnic, "selby style".
One tidbit: this area is famous for it's crayfish, which is a spiny rock lobster, to us. We all thought of trying it, but most are priced at about 85$!!! And some were 115$ at some restaurants we saw. Crazy, but true. Steve got close with a crayfish fritter, but I am not sure how much crayfish was really in it.