Weekend in Kaikōura
Breathtaking coastal scenery, wildlife wonders and friendly bars and eateries... Make tracks for a town that offers a sweet mix of relaxation and adventure.
FRIDAY Evening It’s the talk of the town and it’s not hard to see why. Set on the edge of Kaikōura Bay, the four-storey, 120-room Sudima isn’t just a new hotel – it is Kaikōura’s first. That’s remarkable, considering how much tourism means to the area, and it promises to be transformational for a town with such a lot to oer visitors but, until now, little in the way of mid-range accommodation to entice them to stay.
Te reo is woven into the fabric of the building. All way-finding signs are in Māori, including the one directing guests through the atrium to Hiku, the spacious restaurant and bar. In Māori, “hiku” means “tail”, often referring specifically to the whale tails that are a common sight in the surrounding waters. The food is bistro fare, beautifully done; think local fish crudo to begin, followed by slow-roasted lamb shoulder from Middlehurst Station in the nearby Awatere Valley. Work o that creme brulee with a wander along the esplanade towards the town centre, the sun’s rays disappearing behind the ranges as night sets in.
SATURDAY Morning Follow the stream of locals into Flo & Co, the popular all-day cafe and bar run by sisters Jax and Bex Hunt. Fortify yourself with a freshly squeezed juice or double-shot flat white (their coee supplier 4is Christchurch-based Switch Espresso), then dig into something from the creative menu – dishes such as kimchi pancakes with poached eggs and tofu elevate this cafe beyond the ordinary. After breakfast, poke your head into a few of the stores here on West End, the town’s main street. Retail highlights include homeware specialist Addy & Lou, and Husk Home, and the boutiques clustered in the container mall, a collection of repurposed shipping containers first assembled in Christchurch, then brought north when Kaikōura suered its own devastating earthquake in 2016.
From West End, it’s a short drive to Hapuku, a small settlement just north of Kaikōura proper. In a lovely old converted farmhouse between the mountains and sea is Hapuku Kitchen, a cooking school and supper club run by Fiona Read (the cook) and her husband Chris Sturgeon (the business brains and charcuterie maker).
4. In the Hapuku Kitchen garden.
Here Read, who MasterChef NZ viewers may remember as a former finalist, creates memorable culinary experiences incorporating locally sourced ingredients supplemented by produce from the couple’s garden. We’re here for a hands-on, small-group cooking class, and the menu (for today at least) is an all-vegetarian aair: charred asparagus, pickled egg and herb pesto on a bed of homemade ricotta, with our own honey ice cream to finish. The class starts with a garden forage, baskets and herb-scissors in hand, before getting down to work in the airy kitchen. Read is an enthusiastic and unflappable tutor, even when multiple students are firing questions at her at the same time, and when everyone sits down for lunch it feels like she’s become both a teacher and a friend.
Afternoon It’s hard to drag yourself away from Read’s dining table, but it’s time to get outdoors and experience some of what makes this part of the country so remarkable. While Kaikōura is justly proud of its world-class marine life, recent years have seen a drive to increase the number and variety of land-based attractions in and around the town. One of these is the Kaikōura Cycling Trail, an o-road route that loops around the perimeter of the Kaikōura plains.
Perhaps the most charming place to order a cray feed is at one of the town’s roadside kiosks.
Doing the whole thing will take you around four hours, but it’s easy to complete a truncated version by sticking to the Kōwhai Trail, the section closest to town. Drop into Coastal Sports to pick up a hire bike (e-bikes recommended for the less sporty) and a route map, then take o for a spin through the countryside.
Back in town, pick up your car and head out along the peninsula to explore Kaikōura’s dramatic shoreline, home to thriving seal and shearwater colonies. This is also the place that many of the area’s earliest settlers called home. Early Māori hunted moa and sheltered in coastal caves here; centuries later, some of the first Europeans arrived on the peninsula to hunt the plentiful whales found in the surrounding seas. Stop by Fye House, built by an early whaler in 1860 – you can still see some of the 28 tohorā/ southern right whale vertebrae used as house piles sticking out from below the exterior walls.
5. Kaikōura Cycling Trail. 6. Fyffe House. 7. Roadside kiosk Nins Bin. 8. Kaimoana and chips from Coopers Catch.
Today Kaikōura is known for a dierent kind of marine bounty: kōura, or crayfish, the crustacean that give the town its name. This is New Zealand’s ultimate crayfish-eating destination, and while the annual two-week Cray Fest celebration is over, the season continues on through much of the summer. You’ll find kōura on menus all across town, but perhaps the most charming place to order a cray feed is at one of the town’s roadside kiosks. Located on the peninsula road, Kaikoura Seafood BBQ has been serving crayfish – and local seafood of all kinds – since 2003. If you can’t resist ordering something, get a fritter: you still have dinner to come.
Evening You’ll understand why you were right to limit yourself when you open the menu at Slam Club, a fabulously friendly meaty eatery on the main strip. Austrian transplant Phil Valentin is known for his sandwiches – including a legendary slow-cooked wild venison number – and on Fridays and Saturdays he stays open for dinner; the barbecue smoked meat platter will have you waddling out the door.
End the night with a drive up to Kaikōura lookout, which oers a wonderful view of both sides of the peninsula – during daytime, at least. By night, this is a good location to experience the area’s outstanding stargazing. Kaikōura’s night skies are some of the best in the country, so much so that a consortium of locals are putting together a bid to win International Dark Sky accreditation for the area. Taking in the infinite wonder of the cosmos from here, their success seems all but guaranteed.
SUNDAY Morning After breakfast at the Sudima, cross the road to Dolphin Encounter Kaikōura, the jumping o point for one of the area’s best-loved activities – alongside the whale watching adventures that put the town on the tourism map. There’s no way to get closer to dolphins than by getting into the water and swimming with them, and that’s exactly what Dolphin Encounter oers.
