NewZealand Walk: A wildlife walk around Kaik oura Peninsula
The pungent smell of seals in Kaikoura is the first assault on the senses. The second is the breathtaking views over the shore platform to mountains climbing above the clouds.
Then your ears pick up on the number of different languages being spoken from the crowds of tourists starting to arrive.
We headed onto the shore platform – a vast expanse of white, which changes to black granite on the water’s edge. The nearby marine laboratory has study sites here – we found small markers embedded in the rock.
Around the head of the peninsula are a series of bays. The surface changes to loose, small rounded rocks, then you hear the clamour of the red-billed gull colony, also a marine study area. The rocks here are complex shapes with multiple layers.
Jumping a few cracks, we came to the first bay. Introduced grasses like vipers bugloss are knee high. Native Marlborough rock daisies cling to the cliff edges or cascade down the gullies. We’ve missed the main flowering period in early spring.
We climb a steep track up a small land “island” for views over the bay and towards the black-back gull colonies.
You can swim, but you’d need booties to navigate the rocks. Numerous boats and crayfish pots bob offshore.
About half way along the peninsula, I head up a track through a small copse of planted ngaio on to a wooden stair case.
Then it’s only an hour back along a relatively flat grass track with views of the bays below to the south.
Kaikoura township is compact with an information centre by the main carpark for booking whale watching and other wildlife tours.
The best coffee is at the Beach House and we’d recommend the Top Shop fish and chips while sitting on the large round, grey (and hot!) stones at sunset.
Kaikoura is jammed packed, so expect to take at least half an hour to drive out again!
Walk
Allow two to three hours on a dropping tide around the coast and two hours return along the top track. Allow more time if you intend to visit the South Bay Ngai tahu Visitor Centre.
The facilities here are impressive. Make sure that you have sturdy shoes
and sun protection – there is little to no shade.
Facilities
There are four toilets where there is drinkable water and a small carpark with limited shade.
You may have to park alongside the road approach and you can walk along a narrow boardwalk to the main carpark. Around lunch time, crayfish meals and icecreams are sold on the coastal side of the road.
Wildlife
All native wildlife is protected. We arrived at 9am to find a fur seal sleeping on the road of the carpark. People were approaching within touching distance of the seal which got up and moved off.
Keep at least 20m as they can bite, and walk on the inland side of sleeping seals.
Dolphins are often seen offshore, so take binoculars. During spring and summer, keep out of the gull colonies. Angry birds will try to attack you. Take a long lens and tripod to get great views of them flying.
Driving there
Take SH1 north from Christchurch. Online traffic reports recommends three hours, but we left early and took the normal two hours 15 minutes plus a break in Cheviot.
A couple of short sections were one way, and the 10km over the last hill is 60km per hour. Road works and tunnels over the railway line are impressive.
Earthquake uplift
The most obvious sign of the Culverdon 2016 7.8 earthquake is numerous slips. Coastal rock platforms are slightly more exposed and the sea bed is raised, meaning that the tide doesn’t come in as far.
The road north of Kaikoura where there was large uplift is still under repair.
A wildlife walk around the Kaikoura Peninsula