echo from Sarawak

'Kai' is the Māori word for food. We did not do much research for appetite for the 16 days! We knew NZ supermarkets were well stocked with delicious food, and were conveniently located e.g. Pak’nSave, Countdown etc.  As a tourist destination, NZ had many familiar fast food chains, cafes, ethnic restaurants, and nga waahi kai. Partly as similar commonwealth background, food should be accustomed, except for local seafood cuisine! Snatched up some fruits before start of the 16 Days tour! Countdown, near CHC Airport We enjoyed a mixture of local dishes, Chinese cuisines, own cooking in the hostel, snacks, local bakeries from Countdown & the like; and occasional must-eat local dishes like the pocket-burning crayfish or kōura in Kaikōura. Lunch at Cods n Cray, Kaikoura NZ And for me, I stocked up local beer from Countdown or Foursquare as night companion as you couldn’t drink & drive; or sipping local craft beer in low profile as occasion arose! We enjoyed the kai! Dunedin So...

 We planned the driving very ambitiously especially on the Christchurch/ Dunedin/ Invercargill sector, the 1st leg of our driving trip, we would like to cover many smaller townships and local attractions as what had been speculated in the Southern Scenic Route. Southern Scenic Route - Source: Wikipedia The domestic Jetstar from Auckland to Christchurch delayed on the 2nd day, coupled with the Whakaari/ White Island eruption the day before, and the usual Canterbury flash flood had held us back at least 3 hours.  Canterbury farmland We made various diversions on few Canterbury farmlands before headed on higher ground towards Dunedin. At least this was initially planned for, the Canterbury Plains, lowland terrain with lesser winding route, to warm up the 16 days typical NZ diverse landscape ahead! We reached Dunedin almost 10pm! Highway 01 on Canterbury Plains, south of Christchurch Heading south, from Dunedin Brighton, Dunedin Dunedin/ Invercargill stretch Invercargill was added...