Kaikoura Peninsula Walkway

There are several interesting walks on the Kaikoura Peninsula which can be completely traversed on the Walkway, which is rich with information panels. If you choose to walk the entire track it is about 12 kilometres and can take up to three hours. The Walkway itself and in particular the Point Kean sector has become the place to go and view stark examples of coastal uplift thanks to the 2016 earthquake.

The first sector is from the Town Centre to Point Kean and it is 4.4 kilometres. Along the colourful Esplanade are tourist based attractions and accommodation, and at the far end an historic wharf and the Pier Hotel. The point of the peninsula is next, where a seal sighting is virtually guaranteed. Advice is to stay away, at least twenty metres away if you are not keen on being bitten. Famous Fyffe Housesits on the point of the peninsula on an old pa site. If you read the panels here you will learn about sealing, whaling, settling, and Ngai Tahu history.

Point Kean, with it's waka shaped lookout, is known as seal colony and now also as the place where coastal uplift is most obvious. It used to be a good snorkelling spot (in good weather) but this may have changed. There is plenty of birdlife in this area including the occasional little blue penguin, who may smell a bit less pleasant than he looks. You can also drive to Point Kean via Fyffe Quay.

Setting off on the southern sector toward South Bay, there are options to take the beach route or a slightly inland track. Both are rather exposed and could be chilly in a stiff southerly wind. A side trip to Whalers Bay is optional and there are a number of historic pa sites which can be explored. One of them, near South Bay, was the largest defensive enclosure in the South Island. On one section of the walkway DoC and the 'Hutton’s' shearwater Charitable Trust is working to establish a new colony of 'Hutton’s shearwater' behind a large predator-proof fence. One section of the Walkway near the South Bay car park is wheelchair friendly.

South Bay itself is home to the vessels of the Kaikoura fishing and tourist trades. It turns residential at Kaka Street. The route home is via Scarborough Street, and if you have not seen enough you might like to take in the Kaikoura lookout at the top of the hill off Maui Street.