Kaikōura (; ) is a town on the east coast of the South Island of New Zealand, located on State Highway 1, north of Christchurch. The town has an estimated permanent resident population of as of . Kaikōura is the seat of the territorial authority of the Kaikōura District, which is part of the Canterbury region. In 2023, Kaikōura was named as one of the "most beautiful small towns in the world".
Kaikōura was first inhabited by the Māori, with the Ngāi Tahu iwi occupying the area since at least 1670. Europeans began to settle in Kaikōura in the mid-1840s. By the 1850s, land that had been acquired was sold to European settlers, who most often started sheep farms in the area. Mount Fyffe in the Seaward Kaikōura Range is named in honour of Robert Fyffe and his family, the first European settlers in the area.
The present town owes its origin to the richness of marine life in the ocean, since it developed as a centre for the whaling industry. The name Kaikōura means 'meal of crayfish' (kai – food/meal, kōura – crayfish) and the crayfish industry still plays a role in the economy of the region. Kaikōura is known for its biodiversity – a wide variety of marine mammals can be seen in the sea, including seals, whales and dolphins. It has also been described as "one of the best places in the world to see seabirds", with an exceptional diversity of albatross species. The town has now become a popular tourist destination, mainly for whale watching and swimming with dolphins. Kaikōura receives around 1 million visitors a year. Major ecotourism operators based in the town include Whale Watch Kaikōura and Encounter Kaikōura.
The infrastructure of Kaikōura was heavily damaged in the 2016 Kaikōura earthquake, with one of the two earthquake fatalities happening near the town. The bay and surrounding region were uplifted by as much as .
History
Early Māori history In Māori mythology, Kaikōura Peninsula (Te Taumanu-o-te-waka-a-Māui) was the seat where Māui sat when he fished the North Island (Te Ika-a-Māui) up from the depths of the sea.
Māori have long been resident in Kaikōura, and archaeological evidence of moa bones indicates that they hunted moa there. In the late 1850s, during excavations for the construction of a building near the whaling station on the north side of the Kaikōura Peninsula, an ancient Māori burial site was found containing the egg of a South Island giant moa. The egg is 240 mm x 178 mm and is the largest known moa egg. It is held in the collections of Te Papa. After moa numbers declined, Kaikōura was still an attractive place to live because of its abundance of seafood. The Ngāi Tahu iwi have been resident in the Kaikōura area since at least 1670. Numerous pā sites are located around Kaikōura. The numbers identified vary between 14 and 40.
Captain James Cook saw Kaikōura in 1770 but did not land there. He reported seeing four double-hulled canoes containing 57 Māori approaching HMS Endeavour.
In 1827–1828, Kaikōura was the site of the battle of Niho Maaka, between musket-armed Ngāti Toa (led by Te Rauparaha) and the Kāti Kurī people of Ngāi Tahu. Several hundred Ngāi Tahu were killed or captured. Ngāi Tahu were surprised by the Ngāti Toa raiding party, as they were expecting a visit from the Ngāti Kahungunu sub-tribe Tū-te-pākihi-rangi, with whom they were friends. Only those Kāti Kurī who fled to the hills survived. The name of the battle comes from a threat made by Rerewaka, one of the Kaikōura chiefs, who said he would slit Te Rauparaha's belly with a shark tooth () if he came south.
Whaling stations The Fyffe family was the first European family to settle in Kaikōura, when Robert Fyffe established a whaling station at Kaikōura in 1842. John Guard and his family joined Fyffe sometime between 1844 and 1846. 40 men were employed at the whaling station initially. In 1845, Fyffe purchased a second whaling station at South Bay, which was known as Fyffe's Village and became the commercial centre of Kaikōura until 1867. Fyffe diversified into shipping and farming after whale numbers declined. Robert Fyffe died in 1854 and his cousin George Fyffe took over the whaling business and lived at Fyffe House. The Marlborough Express newspaper commented in 1866 that "whales seemed to have abandoned coming to Kaikōura", but the whaling stations continued operating until 1922.
Mount Fyffe owes its name to the Fyffe family. Fyffe House, the cottage built in 1842 that was home to the Fyffe family, still stands. The area surrounding the house, including Avoca Point, has been listed as a Historic Area by Heritage New Zealand. The construction of the cottage is unusual in that the supporting foundations of the house are made of whalebone.
European settlement The New Zealand government purchased land north of Kaikōura from Ngāti Toa in 1847. This was challenged by Ngāi Tahu, who said that Ngāti Toa had no right to sell land that did not belong to them. In 1857, the New Zealand government made an offer for land between the Ashley and Waiau Uwha rivers for 200 pounds, which was signed by Ngāi Tahu. Other land deals were completed in the area, leaving small reserves for local Māori. These reserves were reduced after 1900 when the government compulsorily acquired further land for the proposed railway and "scenic purposes".
From the 1850s, land that had been acquired was sold to European settlers who most often started sheep farms in the area. Many small blocks were sold around the Kaikōura Peninsula roads and bridges were built in the 1870s. A small wharf was completed in 1863. The Inland Kaikōura Road to Rotherham was completed by 1888. The road that became State Highway 1 was started in the 1890s across the Hundalee Hills with bridges across the rivers completed in 1914. Fifty-nine Norfolk pines were planted along the Esplanade between 1900 and the 1930s. These trees now have "protected trees" status from the Kaikōura District Council.
20th century The population increased as a result of the extensive works required to build the railway in 1935. In December 1945, the Christchurch to Picton railway line was officially opened at Kaikōura. 5,000 people came out to celebrate the occasion. The population fell slightly after the railway was completed. In 1962 the roll-on/roll-off car ferry between Wellington and Picton increased travel between the North and South Islands, bringing more visitors to Kaikōura. There was only one motel (with 40 beds) before 1962.
Between 1945 and 1960, over-fishing led to a decline in the numbers of crayfish (spiny lobsters). By 1975, the decline in crayfish numbers had extended to other fish species. In 1975, 97 registered fishing vessels were operating out of Kaikōura. There are reports that between 1963 and 1964, 248 sperm whales in Kaikoura waters were killed during the last of the whaling activity in New Zealand.
Kaikōura struggled economically during the 1970s. In 1975, there were 304 motel beds and a further 500 campground beds and hotel beds. The Marlborough Regional Development Council noted that there was investment in accommodation but not in tourist attractions at this time. The restructuring of the economy following the election of the Labour government in 1984 also affected Kaikōura adversely. Farm incomes dropped and public sector employment was badly affected. 170 jobs were lost in a town of 3,000.
In 1985, a group of local Kaikōura people established a tourist centre and began promoting Kaikōura as a tourist destination. The focus at that stage was on walking opportunities and the scenery. Whale-watching was established as a tourist venture in Kaikōura in 1987. Local Māori leaders were concerned about unemployment in the town and mortgaged their houses to buy a boat to start up a whale watching business to see the local sperm whales. In the first year of operation, 3,000 tourists took the opportunity to see whales. The business subsequently became Whale Watch Kaikōura and visitor numbers greatly expanded to more than 100,000 per annum.
The town was severely affected when the Kowhai River burst its banks on 23 December 1993, flooding the main street to a depth of . A civil defence emergency was declared, and over 60 residents were evacuated. Many homes, businesses and school buildings suffered flood damage.
2016 Kaikōura earthquake
On 14 November 2016, a 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck the South Island just after midnight. It left two people dead (one near the town and one in the adjacent Hurunui District) and triggered a small tsunami. One thousand tourists and hundreds of residents were stranded in Kaikōura after the earthquake cut off all road and railway access. New Zealand Air Force helicopters flew many people out of Kaikōura and the New Zealand Navy sent HMNZS Canterbury to ferry many hundreds of tourists out.
The Main North Line (Picton to Christchurch railway, passing through Kaikōura) was badly damaged, reopening to freight traffic only on 15 September 2017. The Coastal Pacific passenger service resumed once all repairs were completed in mid-2018. 1700 construction workers completed two million man-hours to repair the quake-damaged sections of State Highway 1, and it reopened on 15 December 2017. The repairs included fixing almost of damaged road and a similar length of railway line. The total cost was around NZ$1.1 billion.
Geography
The coastline stretching roughly between the mouths of the Conway and Waiau Toa / Clarence Rivers is generally known as the Kaikōura coast. This coastline is unusual for the east coast of the South Island, as there is very little coastal plain, with the Seaward Kaikōura Range, a branch of the Southern Alps, rising straight from the ocean. The Kaikōura Peninsula extends into the sea south of the town and the Seaward Kaikōuras are a backdrop to the north and west.
The Kaikōura Canyon is a geologically active submarine canyon located southwest of the Kaikōura Peninsula. The canyon descends into deep water and merges into an ocean channel system that can be traced for hundreds of kilometres across the deep ocean floor. At the head of the canyon, the depth of water is around , but it drops rapidly to and continues down to around deep where it meets the Hikurangi Channel. Sperm whales come close to the coast because the deep water of the Kaikōura Canyon is only off the shoreline to the south of the Kaikoura Peninsula. Studies of the Kaikōura Canyon have found that it is a highly productive ecosystem with 10 to 100 times the density of marine life found in other deep sea habitats. Climate
Governance The town is the seat of the territorial authority of the Kaikōura District, which is part of the Canterbury region. Local governance for Kaikōura is provided by the Kaikōura District Council. The council consists of a mayor and seven councillors. Elections for positions on the council are held every three years in conjunction with nationwide local elections. Kaikōura was the first local authority in the Southern Hemisphere to achieve recognition by the EarthCheck Community Standard.
For national elections, Kaikōura is part of the Kaikōura electorate. Stuart Smith of the National Party was elected in 2014 and as of 2026 still represents the electorate.
Demographics Kaikōura is described by Stats NZ as a small urban area, which covers . It had an estimated population of as of with a population density of people per km2.
Kaikōura had a population of 2,316 in the 2023 New Zealand census, an increase of 93 people (4.2%) since the 2018 census, and an increase of 306 people (15.2%) since the 2013 census. There were 1,110 males, 1,206 females, and 3 people of other genders in 1,056 dwellings. 1.6% of people identified as LGBTIQ+. The median age was 53.5 years (compared with 38.1 years nationally). There were 333 people (14.4%) aged under 15 years, 276 (11.9%) aged 15 to 29, 960 (41.5%) aged 30 to 64, and 753 (32.5%) aged 65 or older.