Last year was a lot of international travel for me and this year was much more chill. Our main trip this year was in Kaikōura and Hanmer Springs during the Easter holidays.

We left a rainy Auckland and arrived in sunny Blenheim. The flight was pretty bumpy but thankfully flying doesn’t really trigger my anxiety. The first part of this trip was a work trip for Max. Then we tagged on a few days so we can explore the area.

Kaikōura is a coastal town in the South Island of Aotearoa/New Zealand. Its name means ‘eat crayfish’ so the town is known for crayfish and abundance of seafood. It’s also a popular tourist spot for whale watching and dolphins. We did see both which I’ll share down below.

The drive from Blenheim to Kaikōura is about 2 hours and it was quite a scenic drive. We stopped by a beach and closer to Kaikōura, we saw seals. It was amazing. This was also the moment Max broke his eyeglasses. He had his window down signalling to the others (cars behind us) about the seals when the wind blew his glasses off his face. He luckily caught it but it broke the arm. We had to buy superglue. Lol

We stayed at Kaikōura Boutique Hotel and we had a lovely room upstairs with the sea view. I basically woke up and watched the water. I even saw dolphins out there. It was great! Max had to do some work and I chilled in the room for a little bit.

For dinner, we went to Hiku which is the restaurant inside Sudima hotel. We had a delicious dinner with everyone but I didn’t take any photos.

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We woke up to a grey morning the next day and it was pretty chilly. Max had an early start with the others for the work event and I took my time in the morning, walked to town to get some coffee then walked to the venue.

It was a scenic walk down to the other side of town at Kaikōura Trotting Club.

I checked out the VW Nationals, there were some pretty cool cars! There were also food trucks and I nabbed the seared scallops on garlic bread and it was amazing!

Then I left Max back to work and walked back to town.

I had another snack in town and I went to Street Eats Kaikōura then checked out some shops. Then I went back to the hotel to rest until Max and the others came back. For dinner, we walked to town, ended up in Groper Garage for dinner. Town was really busy on this night and the service was a bit shocking at this restaurant. I also didn’t take any photos.

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The next morning, we checked out and it was the start of Max and I’s proper trip/holiday. We headed to Kaikōura Peninsula walkway.

We started uphill first then halfway through we decided to go back down and walk along the rocks instead and that’s where we saw seals up close.

We saw so many seals sleeping on the rocks! It still amazes us how beautiful this country is and that you can see seals for free, in their habitat while going for a casual walk.

After our walk, we worked up an appetite so we stopped by the famous Kaikōura Seafood BBQ which was on the way back.

We got there just in time because they did sell out of crayfish and all the other dishes. We got the crayfish fritter and the groper.

Then we checked in to our next accommodation, Kaikōura Peaks Boutique eMotel.

This accommodation was in the other side of town but still pretty close to the shops. It was nice and roomy and it had a kitchen which was so handy. That night we got takeaways for dinner.

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The next morning was an early start but an exciting one! We did whale watching! We got on the whale watch boat and after some time, we managed to get two whales from a distance!

The peak time to go whale watching in Kaikōura is November but I’m glad we saw two back in April. We were so lucky! I didn’t really get nice photos but Max got a video of the two whales. It was amazing to experience that. I was basically too stunned and just watched these huge majestic creatures do their thing.

Afterwards, we had breakfast at Sime’s Kitchen. We didn’t want to eat before the boat ride in case we got seasick, thankfully we didn’t but it was pretty bumpy!

Afterwards we went to South Bay Reserve and did the walk.

We saw some stairs so we decided to go down and walk along the coast. We saw more seals.

As we walked further, the landscape changed a bit and also there were no other people doing this walk. We got to this part (left photo above) and I felt a bit weird continuing further as there is a bend and the waves were hitting the rocks further away. We pushed on for a bit then we started seeing bones and dead/decaying seals. We basically found the seal graveyard. It was eerie and that’s what we turned back around. We walked back up the stairs and back to the car. That was enough adventure for the day.

Before heading back to our hotel, we stopped by Bernie’s Diner. I saw this place recommended on Tiktok as having good donuts. We had shakes and shared the donuts and the internet was right. They were good!

At the back of Bernie’s Diner is a classic car museum so we also checked that out. After this, we went home, had our takeaway leftovers and crashed for the night.

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Next morning, we woke up and headed to another exciting activity we booked last minute.

We decided to get on a small plane and see the whales from above. We booked Air Kaikōura and they were great.

We flew on such a gorgeous day!

We also got lucky too and we saw a whale. This was another surreal experience seeing a whale from above. The vantage point shows their scale when they skim the surface. It was amazing and quite different from the whale watching boat experience. As you can see, there is the whale watching boat near the whale too. That’s the same boat we were on the other day.

Overall, this was an awesome experience. I highly recommend if you’re not scared of flying. It was so cool to see the whale from this vantage point. We saw a pod of dusky dolphins too.

Afterwards, we grabbed something to eat. I got the classic south island cheese roll then we went for a quick bush walk then drove to Ohau Point Lookout.

This lookout was amazing. There were so many seals and we could’ve watched them all day. Compared to the Kaikōura Peninsula walkway where the seals were mostly asleep, on this day at Ohau Point Lookout, the seals were active. There were many baby seals playing and swimming too. They were so cute!

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The next morning, we checked out, had breakfast and stopped by South Bay again as we saw a huge pod of dusky dolphins. That was another awesome thing to witness. They were doing flips! Then we drove to Hanmer Springs, our next destination.

We stopped by a cafe then did the Hanmer Heritage Forest walk. Max also decided to go around and take the long route and we ended up on a gravel road going back to Hanmer Springs town lol. Then we checked in to our accommodation.

We booked Braemar Lodge & Spa for our stay in Hanmer Springs. It’s just outside the main town but it’s close enough to it. Our suite was HUGE. It was the biggest hotel room we’ve ever been in. It was actually ridiculous how big the room was but it was awesome too. The bathroom had a spa bath with jets which we didn’t use and double shower heads. Out on the terrace was the spa bath which we did use during our stay and the main reason we booked here.

We had a relaxing stay in Braemar. It was probably the most relaxing time during our trip.

The next morning we spent a few hours in Hanmer Springs Thermal Pools. We had a great relaxing time there, came back and crashed. Then we went out for dinner at The Vintage Bar & Bistro.

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Next morning we checked out and made our way down to Christchurch which was a 2hr drive. We did stop by a bakery for coffee and food then Pegasus Bay Winery which is around 50mins away from central Christchurch.

This winery is beautiful. I love the building’s architecture. The grounds are pretty too with nice gardens.

Instead of a proper restaurant, they have a mini deli which you can choose different snacky food, then they’ll prepare it in a nice basket to have a picnic. We decided to eat inside right in front of the fireplace which had a fire on. It was a lovely lunch. We got the sourdough bread, wagyu fina seca, truffle porcini tartinade and salmon pate. We chose some good snacks! We also did their wine tasting after our food.

Afterwards, we checked out the grounds. They had a beautiful flower garden. They had the biggest bumble bees we’ve ever seen! Then we drove to Christchurch, dropped the car and headed to the airport.

That’s it for our Kaikōura and Hanmer Springs trip. We did a balance of activities and relaxation especially towards the end of our trip. Kaikōura is beautiful. I would love to come back when it’s peak season to do whale watching but our experience was still amazing though. Hanmer Springs was a nice stop for us before heading back home.

Last year was big on international travel and that was an amazing experience but it’s trips like these that we realise how beautiful Aotearoa/NZ really is. There is no place like home and there is so much more to explore in this wonderful country!