tarting about five million years ago, this region was the site of New Zealand's most recent period of sustained mountain building. The name given to that great epoch is the Kaikoura Orogeny, named for the mountains it created. Even today the mountains of Kaikoura are still rising as the ranges along this area's faults move northwards.

From the sea as you look inland, the mountains seem to rise in a continuous mass to the horizon, but in fact there are two parallel ranges - the Seaward and the Inland Kaikouras - divided by a deep fault. Through part of that fault runs the Clarence River, reaching the Pacific seven kilometres north of Waipapa Bay.

It is the Seaward Kaikouras, then, that dominate the landscape along the coast as our route from Blenhelm via State Highway 1 heads first southeast and then almost directly south. It is just short of 130 kilometres to Kaikoura and for almost half this distance the Pacific is within sight of the road. If you allow time for sightseeing, this trip can still be done easily within three hours.

Squeezed between the mountains and the sea, the plain here often narrows to a strip just metres wide or disappears entirely. Then the road and the railway enter tunnels laboriously carved in the coastal cliffs. Nowhere else in New Zealand do mountains run so closely parallel to the sea and there is nowhere else on the mainland that the sea exerts such an influence on the environment as it does in the coastal Kaikoura region.

Stop at any of the numerous nooks and crannies along this coast, walk down to the beach, and one can observe the abundant sea life the shore supports. The sea here is often rough and breakers crash against a rockbound shore cushioned only slightly by the giant kelp writhing in slow motion in the current. This kelp, Durvillea, with its firm holdfast, smooth blades and dark, sinuous thongs offering minimum resistance to the waves, is superbly adapted to this environment and grows much larger than it does in the north.

There is an amazing variety of life all along this exposed, seemingly hostile shore. Every tidepool supports its own tiny community of fish, crabs, starfish and other invertebrates. Lithothamnia algae cover the rocks in splashes of greens, mauves and pinks, and periwinkles range widely throughout the splash zone grazing on algae. Scarlet, chocolate and orange sponges and sometimes the gently waving antennae of crayfish can be seen deep in the water-filled crevices, together with green mussels and barnacles firmly attached to the rocks.

This abundant kai moana’ as appreciated by the Maori who migrated from the north. Most modern translations of Kaikoura are given as 'eat crayfish’ but Kaikoura is actually a shortened version of the original name, Te-Ahi-Kai-Koura-a-Tamatea-Pokai-Whenua, meaning the fire at which crayfish were cooked for Tamatea Pokai Whenua, the legendary explorer. The local Ngati-Rangitane also trolled for barracouta in the surrounding seas, and fished for the blue cod, parrotfish and spotties which favour these rocky coasts.

Fur seals, too, were a popular prey and became of increasing importance to the Maori as the forests inland disappeared, and the birds with them. Other marine mammals were more difficult to catch, but both aihe, the dusky dolphin, as well as upokohue, Hector's dolphin, were occasionally harpooned and any whale that beached itself was enthusiastically received.

Whales continue to be a feature of the Kaikoura coast and although the migrating pods of yesteryear are now much diminished, they are still to be seen. Trips to see the resident sperm whales are available out of Kaikoura, both by boat and by air.

Sperm whale migrate here each year but there are young bulls resident year round. Orca often occur too and Hector’s dolphin can usually be found closer inshore.

Seabirds are another highlight of the boat tours. Masses of petrels can be seen and albatrosses are not unusual around here, on forays from the south. Several dozen different seabirds frequent our waters, some in great numbers, but others only rarely, and it is worthwhile learning to differentiate between the various types. Some of these birds formerly occurred in huge numbers. Captain Waller of the ship Westralia, crossing the Tasman at the turn of the century, reported that on one occasion he steamed for 50 kilometres through flights of 'muttonbirds' and these extended for more than five kilometres on either side of the ship. When the birds settled on the sea to feed he likened them to a reef of black rocks. Giant petrels or stinkpots are also common and the leg and wing bones of these birds were used by the Maori for the making of needles and awls. Watch for penguins too.