We kept driving through the bleak, hilly terrain that as usual was totally empty. The road later began to hug the coast, which was also bleak but in a good way, strong waves, dark cloudy skies and black sand beaches. Just north of Kaikoura we stopped to look at a seal colony along the road, but the seals were pretty lazy, just sunning themselves. Kaikoura is the main whale viewing spot in New Zealand, but Somchai wasn't into it, mostly due to his propensity to puke on ships. So we just stopped for lunch at a not very good seafood restaurant, and kept driving for another two hours until we reached our next hotel, Braemer Lodge at Hanmer Springs.