Kaikoura Long Weekend Escape - Britz

Two nights and 362 kilometres in a loop from Christchurch in a campervan, up the North Canterbury coast to Kaikoura and back.

Waipara and the Greta Valley come first, through cool-climate vineyards and farmland, with St Annes Reserve on the way north.

Kaikoura is the destination, and the geography is the reason: the Seaward Kaikoura range drops almost straight into a deep submarine canyon, which brings sperm whales, dusky dolphins and fur seals within a few kilometres of the shore all year round. South Bay is the harbour, and the Point Kean viewpoint at the end of the peninsula has a seal colony on the rocks below it. Gore Bay and the Cathedral Cliffs close the loop, where erosion has cut the clay into fluted pinnacles.

Britz supply the camper and the day-by-day plan, and the hire is priced live per vehicle rather than per person; campsites, fuel, ferries, park fees and activities are all extra, with a nil-excess insurance pack available at booking. Three days makes this a long weekend rather than a trip, and Kaikoura is only a couple of hours from Christchurch, so the driving is minimal. Whale watching goes by boat, plane or helicopter and all three are weather dependent, with no sighting promised. The seals at Point Kean need no booking at all and are usually there. For a first weekend in a camper it is about as straightforward as New Zealand gets, with one road, one destination and a holiday park at the end of it.