The picturesque coastal town of Kaikōura is the perfect place for marine life encounters, coastal walks, and tucking into a plate of crayfish.

Kaikōura is a base for wildlife experiences of all kinds – it’s also a great place to eat crayfish (in the native New Zealand people the Māori language ‘kai’ means food, ‘kōura’ means crayfish). An easy two-hour drive north of Christchurch, Kaikōura makes for a great day trip or a fun stop on your way to Marlborough. Kaikōura’s environment is truly spectacular – the village is caught between the rugged Seaward Kaikōura Range and the Pacific Ocean. In winter the mountains are covered with snow, adding to the drama of the landscape.

Kaikōura’s special talent is marine mammal encounters – whales, fur seals and dolphins live permanently in the coastal waters. Whale watching trips leave the town several times a day and the local seal colony is always entertaining. There are plenty of cafés, restaurants and shops to explore.

Our beloved Paua Shell thrives in this environment too – although unfortunately due to the damage done to Paua in the devastating 7.8-magnitude earthquake that struck the coastal New Zealand town of Kaikōura in 2016 there has been a ban imposed on gathering them along this whole coastline – as the disaster had disrupted the natural reproductive cycle of paua and it would be three to five years before the juvenile paua became sexually mature again to reproduce.