Open road brings life to Kaiko¯ura
Hope and optimism have at long last returned to Kaiko¯ura after a year that brought the beleaguered coastal town to its knees.
The magnitude-7.8 earthquake of November 2016 left the tourist haven isolated and broken, with businesses struggling for survival and residents desperate to be reconnected with the outside world.
But after 12 long months of work to rebuild the shattered State Highway 1, the main road finally reopened in December – allowing Kaiko¯ura to emerge from a darkness that shrouded it for too long and bringing a tourism boom perhaps not even the locals were expecting.
Shops have since been so busy punters have queued out the door, restaurants are struggling with the volume of customers, and hotels and guesthouses are so full visitors struggle to find beds. They are problems businesses could have only dreamed of a few months ago.
‘‘It is like someone has turned on the light again and everyone has returned,’’ said Glenn Ormsby, manager of tourism organisation Destination Kaiko¯ura.
‘‘You can see it around town, with restaurants, shops and accommodation very busy. It’s been fantastic. I know it’s not finished, but just having the road open is so significant for the town. What has happened is exactly what we hoped for, with the road reopening and people coming back.’’
Since the opening of SH1 on December 15 between 3000 and 4000 vehicles have travelled the road each day, peaking at 5650 on December 29 – similar to numbers before the earthquake.
Work will begin again on Monday after the Christmas holiday, with restrictions both north and south of Kaiko¯ura expected to add up to an hour to journey times. But business owners are confident visitors will keep coming.
Official visitor figures for Kaiko¯ura since the road reopened are not yet available but the numbers dropping into the i-Site information centre on West End are testament to the town’s new lease of life.
‘‘We took quite a hit last year, something like 80 per cent down on what it would normally be,’’ Ormsby said. ‘‘But visitor numbers at the i-Site in December were up by 290 per cent on the same time the year before.
‘‘We have had to look at getting more staff on board because it has been so busy.’’
At Karen Barwick’s Poppy’s Handmade Ice Cream parlour, the scoops are rolling out the door so fast they are leaving the freezers empty, a stark contrast to this time last year.
‘‘It was just like it was when we opened four years ago,’’ she said. ‘‘People are coming just for the day. They’re driving all the way from Nelson, Blenheim, Christchurch, even Dunedin.
‘‘The faces are different every day and everyone’s really in such high spirits.’’
Barwick had been up until midnight most nights since SH1’s reopening, making ice cream to meet the next day’s demand.
‘‘We’ve had to shut twice about 8pm because we’ve sold out, so, for us, that’s phenomenal.’’
Penny Betts, owner of a fair trade clothing and jewellery shop, said the road’s opening had helped her business immensely and she hoped people would accept the delays from Monday and still visit the town.
Kaiko¯ura Mayor Winston Gray said the sheer numbers of visitors over Christmas had left the town creaking.
‘‘It’s been an absolute turnaround, I’ve never seen the town so busy – 2015 was busy but this was busier. It’s been really good.’’