Quakes draw new disaster tourists
Visitors are taking to the skies and seas to check out the tragicallysmashed landscape around Kaikoura, Oliver Lewis reports.
The earthquake caused shock waves in the Kaikoura tourism industry, but the landscape it left behind is becoming an attraction in its own right.
Images of the uplifted seabed, slips and exposed fault lines were rife following the disaster, leading to a rise in visitors curious to see the new landscape for themselves.
Kaikoura Kayaks owner Matt Foy said people were booking tours because they wanted to see the new coastline and other attractions, such as Hope Springs in Whalers Bay.
Foy and his colleague Conner Stapley discovered the stream of natural gas bubbling in the sea following the earthquake, something he said was proving popular with visitors to the area.
According to Foy, there were three kinds of visitors to Kaikoura: those who came to support the town, those who wanted to see the aftermath of the earthquake, and visitors who planned on coming anyway.
"We’re having to rediscover the peninsula ourselves, the coastline has changed so much and there are lots of tourists who want to get out there and see that,’’ he said.
For those wanting a more extensive overview, tourism operators were also offering scenic flights that allowed residents and visitors to appreciate the scale of the changes.
NZ Farming founder Tyler Fifield, who had visited farmers throughout southern Marlborough as part of the recovery effort, urged tourism operators to be respectful to those trying to rebuild their lives.
However, he doubted there would be much objection from farmers if it was just a helicopter or fixed-wing plane flying overhead, as the intrusion would be minimal.
‘‘What can the farmers do? Maybe they get a bit annoyed with people buzzing over their heads all day,’’ he said.
‘‘But if it’s just a helicopter going down the coast to look at the raised seabed I don’t feel there’d be any objections.’’
Precision Helicopters Blenheim co-owner Tanya Andrews, who ran the business with her husband Neal Andrews, said they had been approached by people keen to charter flights to Kaikoura.
The company had been flying missions for civil defence, as well as other agencies dealing with earthquake recovery work, when interest started to pick up for scenic flights.
Andrews said the earthquake was a historic event that had drastically altered the landscape, so people wanted the opportunity see how the country they knew so well had changed.
‘‘Buildings can be replaced but the landscape will be forever changed, and State Highway 1 is a road people have all driven down and now they can’t, so this is the only way to see it,’’ she said.
Precision Helicopters was offering a one-and-a-half hour return trip from their base at the Omaka Aerodrome, near Blenheim, down to Kaikoura for people interested in the geographic experience.
Kaikoura-based Wings Over Whales offered scenic air tours before the earthquake, but there had been more locals wanting to take a look at the altered landscape since the earthquake.
Owner Aneke Bowker said the flights took in Hapuku Lake, formed by a landslide into Hapuku River, slips in Clarence Valley and along SH1, as well as the raised seabed. ‘‘It was such a drastic change in the landscape that it makes sense people are interested and curious to see it,’’ she said. ‘‘It’s just as beautiful as it was before, it’s just different now.’’
Bowker said tourist numbers were down on previous summers, but there was still interest in whale and dolphin-watching flights.
Destination Kaikoura general manager Glenn Ormsby said the changed landscape presented another opportunity for tourism operators, but said it was probably a niche market.
Tourism numbers increased as soon as the roads into Kaikoura were opened up, and while he could not predict when they might return to pre-earthquake levels, Ormsby said the marine life in Kaikoura remained a strong drawcard.