We were up a bit earlier and had breakfast at 07.30. We left The Bell Tower not long after 08.00 and got onto Dog Point Road and then onto the State Highway not Super Highway. It had rained a lot in the night, there were 2 particular spells when the rain was very, very heavy. As we drove along it was raining but only lightly, there was hardly any traffic and we were able to make good progress trundling along at 100kmh. The weather improved as well and there was a glimmer of sunshine as well. We were having to take a huge detour, normally you can drive from Blenheim to Kaikoura in under 2 hours but the huge earthquake in November took out a lot of the SH 1 between the 2, the inland route was also closed for a while which meant the town was largely cut off. Tourists here at the time were evacuated by helicopter or the navy. Our journey was to take over 7 hours. We had to take a loop heading west then south then east and then back north. We went via St Arnaud, Murchison, Springs Junction, Waiau and Hamner Springs. The last 90 km was a very poor road. We were lucky in that it was Sunday so there were not many trucks and also the road repair crews were not actually working, also the weather improved so the possibility of the inland road also being closed receded. That was a real possibility when we set off so plan B was to stay overnight somewhere along the way. A lot of the road is pretty good but every so often you would come to a one way bridge or a set of roadworks with a 30 kph limit, largely because although they have relaid the surface it has not been sealed so its basically chippings. In other places the road was actually just gravel, I doubt they would let you drive on it in the UK. As I mentioned the last 90 km was the worst, it had been the most affected by land slips, we had to go over several new temporary bridges installed by the army, several new cut sections of road because the old road was simply not there. In one section there were still rocks coming down the hill side and in one place a policeman had stopped and was clearing one side of the road. This part of the road also had a lot of hairpin bends, it was up and down with steep drops. The last 10 km was not too bad as we had dropped to sea level and the road was flat and straight and relatively undamaged. We eventually arrived at Manaku Lodge at 15.30 having had just 3 short stops. Thankfully we won't have such a difficult journey again this holiday.

We unpacked and went out and drove the 15 minutes to the centre of the small town, we went to the Dolphin Encounter office to check on the arrangements for tomorrow. Because of the earthquake the boats can't leave Kaikoura harbour anymore as the seabed has risen by 2 metres so have to set off from another location. If its too windy in the morning our trip will be cancelled.

We then drove to the point and parked up. We walked up the steep path to the lookout and then along the cliff top, a drop of about 150 feet to our left and a 35 mph "breeze" blowing from the sea. We walked for about 25 minutes and then decided it wasn't safe to go any further so turned back. We had a brief walk on the limestone slabs which would until November been covered by the sea. The scenery is just magnificent if a bit wild. We had dinner at the Pier Hotel, Fiona had half a lamb and I had some pan fried gurnard. We decided on an earlier night as we need to be out before 08.00 in the morning, Fiona also broke her record and went a whole 24 hours without wine, partly due to that bottle last night following the wine tasting tour.