Although the location of the Beach Camp motor park was pretty good, we heard the crashing of the waves against the Pancake Rocks (more below) all night, the facilities weren't particularly salubrious and I got bitten 5 or 6 times by sandflies whilst having a shave in the morning. Still as long as there is hot water for my shower I am normally pretty happy. After vacating the camp we drove the few hundred yards to the visitors' centre (after initially going the wrong way) and started the tour of the Pancake Rocks. I had no idea what these were and I was disappointed as we started the trail through the park as all we could see were some stratified limestone rocks. However as you move towards the sea, they get more impressive and the main feature is a series of blowholes and enclosed bays where the sea crashes in with tremendous force throwing up lots of water (and soaking everyone).
We finished the path through the Pancake Rocks and then jumped back in the van and headed towards Westport along the coastal road. As we had been told, the view was in fact pretty spectacular especially as we got further up the coast. We turned inland to cross the island and head for Kaikoura. The journey was pretty uneventful and although the views were very nice, they were not as impressive as some of the stuff we had already seen. One tip if you ever do this trip though, when faced with the choice of SH1 or SH70 when you near the east coast, take the SH1 (we took the SH70 and it is very, very windy).
When we hit Kaikoura (Kai=food, Koura=crayfish) we found the motor park closest to the town (the Top 10 Motor Park) which was very nicely kept with good facilities (including a spa). We headed into town to eat and had a pretty uninspiring meal in a nice looking restaurant called the Craypot. Maybe we hit them on a bad night but I didn't think much to the service either. Still we managed to secure some rather nice chocolate cake and carrot cake to take back to the van for desert from Aroma Cafe.