An Overnight Stay in Kaikoura.

After leaving Ward Beach we decided to only travel one to two hours, which made Kaikoura our next stop. 
We planned to stay at an NZMCA park at the Kaikoura Trotting Club in South Bay, which is about five kilometres south of Kaikoura. However when we arrived it was full ... time for plan B. 
At the end of South Bay, there's a dump station, we headed there to dump our grey water and rubbish. While Bernie did that, I walked the dogs along the foreshore.

We parked beside South Bay foreshore, with the local bird-life entertaining us, while we discussed where we should stay. 

I'd heard lots of positive comments about "Donegal House" being a nice place to stay. It's an Irish Hotel and campervan park about 3kms north of Kaikoura and it's dog friendly. Perfect.

There was loads of space to park, one side have the powered sites and opposite is the unpowered area. We found an unpowered spot to park and settled in for the night. Our view was looking over a pond.

The next morning Bernie lifted the carpet tiles and put them along the fence to dry. I'd forgotten to mention that we hadn't remembered to put the water container into the shower as we left Ward Beach. We were traveling along the coastline, when we heard a bang! It happened at that time where there was nowhere to pull over (Murphy's law), so we continued driving for a few kilometres until we found somewhere to stop. And, you've guessed it - the water container  had fallen onto the floor and emptied out (all 20 odd litres) over the carpet. Luckily, it was an easy fix. The carpet tiles came up effortlessly. The weather was fine with a slight breeze, so in no time at all the carpet was dry and back in its rightful place. As the saying goes, 'Every cloud has a silver lining', we now had a nice, clean floor!

 Before we set off, Oakly, Boo and I went off to have a look around.

This huge gum tree growing beside Donegal House was brought over from Australia as a seed in someone's pocket. (see more info below).

Our first stop was back at South Bay to dump and fill up with water. Being such a scenic area we stopped along the beach for lunch.

The dogs didn't need asking twice when I suggested we go and explore.

I loved all the blue borage along the roadside and the red poppies growing in amongst it. I wasn't the only one who appreciated the blue borage - hundreds of bees were visiting too.

The crimson flowers of the pohutukawa tree were eye-catching.

There's so much to see around this area and I've got my eye on a couple of walks I'm keen to do. Plus there are the seals - I love seals! Although it was a brief trip, we still enjoyed our visit and next time we'll put aside more time to explore. Until next time ....