The GCW Tour, Sydney & New Zealand: Kaikoura

Tonight we're staying in a little seaside town called Kaikoura. It was a last minute change in plans, so we were pleased to actually find the kind of lodging Sib2 and I both actively seek out. (We each chose it independently on our own search of the travel websites.)

It's called Wacky Stays, and it's run by a UK couple who moved to New Zealand eight years ago and tried farming, but couldn't really make that work, then tried a petting zoo, and couldn't make that work, so they stuck a yurt, a train car, a covered wagon, a teepee, and a homemade camper van and started renting those out as rooms. So far that's working. 

We got the Yurt, which came from Mongolia, and is pretty cool. 

Plus, the overnight stay gets you a free visit to the petting zoo and so some interaction with llamas, goats, donkeys, pigs (including the world's ugliest pig, some native New Zealand breed), a wallaby, rabbits, guinea pigs, ducks, turkeys and, Dave's favorite, peacocks.

Beyond weird places to stay the night, Kaikoura is also known for crayfish (sold at numerous roadside stands -- the most expensive roadside stand food I think I've ever eaten), a seal colony (which, aside from a few individual exceptions, was mostly at sea), and whale watching, which we're off to do tomorrow morning. Hence the change in plans. 

Here's a few representative photos for those wondering just how ugly New Zealand's pig is...