Our beach retreat at Kaikoura - Tuesday 12 March

We left Harper Cottage, Christchurch on a lovely sunny morning and drove north on the main road.  It was a pleasant 3 hour drive with minor road work delays, but so little traffic compared with the UK. 

We are now staying in an airbnb attached to a surfer school 15 km north of Kaikoura.  It's an amazing place, all on its own and then across a track to a long, pebble beach.  

When Mark booked this he asked if we could take the owner's dog for a walk...Luca was a bit of a surprise - the opposite of  Jimmie our 52 kg mastiff cross!  

These pictures are from our late afternoon walk on the beach.  Just stunning!  We spent quite a few minutes watching surfers....there's one in the picture below.  It looks hard work with lots of effort for a brief few seconds of riding the waves...we won't be trying it tomorrow!