Wealth of wildlife and culture
I might just drive 180km north from Christchurch up State Highway 1, to the east coast town and region of Kaikoura.
I might head first inland to Hanmer Springs and then drive out through the mountains and valleys and the pretty town of Waiau to Kaikoura.
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I might even catch the train from Christchurch to what locals in Kaikoura call the "whale-way station".
And soon I find out why . . .
WHALE WATCH
A big sperm whale surfaces within minutes of us leaving the harbour at Kaikoura, blowing a plume of spray and cruising a while before arching its body, raising its tail and diving to the depths, leaving a flat circle of water on the surface of the Pacific Ocean as it dives deeper and deeper.
Quite soon after, the skipper of Aoraki - one of Whale Watch Kaikoura's purpose-built 18m catamarans, with its professional crew and excellent commentary - is gently closing on another sperm whale, which we watch for a while before it too dives. These male sperm whales commonly grow to 17m long and more than 50 tonnes in weight, and are regularly found here where the continental shelf comes close to the coast.
Soon after leaving the berth, Aoraki was in 100m of water, and just over 7km out the depth has dropped to 1600m in a deepwater canyon that is 5000m wide.
Sperm whales love it, as they are deep-diving mammals. Whale Watch Kaikoura uses hydrophones to harmlessly listen out for and find them up to 7km away.
From there, we travel on to literally hundreds of dusky dolphins, running in a huge pod and taking turns to jump clear of the water, twisting before they splash back in.
And then on to New Zealand fur seals hanging out on a rock in the ocean.
Three rare Hector's dolphins come up on the port side, and run towards the boat. The Hector's dolphin is found only in New Zealand, and it has been calculated that there might be only 8000 in existence.
But the water is covered in the late light by Hutton's shearwaters, as a humpback whale repeatedly and slowly surfaces, dives and resurfaces. Most might be focused on the humpback's next appearance, but for me the Hutton's shearwaters are a heart-lifting sight, for it is nationally endangered, and the only New Zealand seabird to breed in a sub-alpine environment. Its two remaining breeding colonies are in the Seaward Kaikoura mountains, off past the flock, which ripples from one spot to another on the silver-grey water. A third breeding site has now been established on the Kaikoura Peninsula as a community initiative.
I later learn from Maurice Manawatu of Maori Tours in Kaikoura that the flocks used to fly from their rookeries to the ocean and back every day in vast numbers, fertilising the land in between. Before Europeans and predators arrived, the local tribe used to harvest them for food at some times of year. They would then collect bull kelp, split it open lengthwise like pita bread, stuff the birds in, sew it up with thread made from New Zealand flax, and when the kelp dried it would vacuum-pack them.
Whale Watch Kaikoura's three-hour whale-watching tours run up to six times a day, depending on weather and are $NZ145 ($126) for adults, $NZ60 for children. whalewatch.co.nz.
The Hutton's Shearwater Charitable Trust: huttonsshearwater.org.nz.
HAPUKU LODGE AND TREE HOUSES
I am lying in luxury, 10m up, the Pacific Ocean on one side of me, the Kaikoura mountains the other. The song of a bellbird has rung out in the evening but now all is dark and still, and the rain begins to fall.
This night at Hapuku Lodge and Tree Houses in Kaikoura is one of those nights where you don't want to fall asleep. You just want to lie awake in a big, comfortable bed, with the windows open to the cool night air, and enjoy every minute of it.
The bedhead behind me is of American redwood, the wall unit is of lacewood and American walnut, and the bedside shelves of New Zealand macrocarpa, as are the timber bricks in the bathroom. It has a big spa bath looking out over South Island's green landscape and the full-length windows of its shower look over an orchard of some of Hapuku's 1000 olive trees.
This is an extraordinary place, and it was always going to be so - architecture runs in the blood of New Zealand's Wilson family, and it shows in Hapuku Lodge and Tree Houses. For while father Gordon Wilson was the NZ Government architect between 1949 and 1959, three sons Tony, Michael and Peter also went into architectural design, and this combined family passion shows here.
Tony and the family thought this a good place to build and the lodge, with its four exceptionally beautiful suites, opened in 2003, the five luxurious tree houses following later, each named for a bird.
There is also a farm on the 180 hectares, with 650 deer, Wessex saddleback pigs and free-range chickens. It has its own sauvignon blanc and gewurztraminer wines from grapes grown on the property and olive oil produced from the orchards is used in the kitchen, as are a lot of the vegetables and herbs. In fact, head chef Jeremy Simeon has just come in from the garden, and is chopping some ready for dinner now.
Hapuku Lodge is now managed by Chris Sturgeon and executive chef wife Fiona Read, who was a New Zealand MasterChef 2011 finalist.
The menu choice tonight is between lamb backstrap and crispy fried spinach, a wonderful salad with shaved fennel, baby peas, parmesan and a local grower's sweet lettuces or green-lipped Marlborough mussels for entree.
For main course, there's free-range pork belly (their own pigs) with pickled fennel and lentils, Kaikoura monkfish with haricot beans or whole local grilled rock lobster. For dessert, there's dark chocolate pudding with strawberry Cointreau preserve and a warm pouring custard, hazelnut muscovado (molasses flavoured brown sugar) cake or mille-feuille (custard slice) of cherries.
And after that, I lie here in my tree house, with the ocean on one side of me, and the Seaward Kaikoura Ranges to the other. And then it starts to rain.
Hapuku Lodge and Tree Houses has various prices; as an example the Earth, Sea & Sky Package includes two nights' accommodation at Hapuku Lodge and Tree Houses for two people in an Upper Branch Tree House or lodge room including a three-course dinner each evening and full a la carte breakfast each morning, a whale-watching tour and a guided night sky tour. In a tree house or lodge suite it is $NZ2195 for two people, in a lodge room it is $NZ1790. hapukulodge.com.
MAORI TOURS
Maurice Manawatu tells me the name of his mountain, his river, his canoe, then his surname and then his first name, and as such has fully introduced himself.
I do the same, and then he steps forward, shakes my hand and presses his nose against mine twice. It has to be twice as he doesn't know me; it would be once if he did. This nose pressing - hongi - is symbolic of sharing the first breath and the life force. Even among often warring tribes "no fighting ever broke out after hongi".
But before this, as part of the Maori process of welcome on Maurice's cultural tour in Kaikoura, we have already visited a pa - the remains of an old fortified village, surrounded by earthworks and a trench that would have been filled with sharpened poles, to slow attackers. There, at the entrance, Maurice's grandson Miharo performed a haka as a spiritual welcome. We then stood in a circle and started to learn a song, for it was often through song that traditional Maori stories were passed on.
Maori Tours' three-and-a-half-hour cultural tour is brilliant. Maurice is genuine, humorous, giving, and his slow and warm manner is endearing.
His lineage passes back most immediately through a grandfather and great-grandfather who were chiefs in his big Ngai Tahu tribe, but he says his great-great-grandmother traced 68 generations of the family back through the Pacific islands. The first tide of Maori arrived from Tahiti 900 years ago, the second 450 years ago, he says.
Maurice takes us to the tribe's marae building - a meeting place and a base for Maori who have moved away when they return.
And now we are at Maurice's house where wife Heather greets us with a handshake and hongi, nose-to-nose twice, and then we sit for morning tea - sharing food is part of the welcome process, and being in this Maori home is one of the personal moments for guests on Maurice's Maori Tours in Kaikoura.
In turn we each stand and introduce ourselves, through our mountain, our river, our canoe (for one confused guest, Maurice suggests their usual mode of transport - "Toyota"), our surname, our first name. We are shown how to weave a flower from the long, split leaves of New Zealand flax, and generally just sit and share our stories of the world, our lives; our common humanity.
And then Maurice takes us on to the forest by the Puhi Puhi River, just outside Kaikoura, telling us that of the 170 ferns in New Zealand, only seven can be eaten. He snaps off a tip and it tastes like green beans. We sing the song we now know better by first a matai tree and then a 600-year-old totara tree, the timber for which was used for canoes and carvings.
We sing the song and embrace its last line. We "stand in the heart of the day".
Maori Tours in Kaikoura are $NZ125 for adults, $NZ65 for children. maoritours.co.nz and + 64 3 319 5567.
MORE IN KAIKOURA
When he was a boy of 10, Maurice Manawatu says, rock lobster were so plentiful here that in rough seas they would be dumped on the shore by waves. The boys would duck in between each wave to pick them up and easily fill a sugar bag in half an hour. If there's one thing Kaikoura is still famous for as much as anything else, it is its seafood. And when in Kaikoura, fish and chips is on the menu.
Kaikoura Kayaks' half-day sea kayaking trips puts paddlers among New Zealand fur seals. They're quite likely to play around and dive under the kayaks. These experienced operators take out guests of all levels, around reefs and through areas familiar to Maori and early whalers. The three-hour trips leave three times a day and are $NZ95 for adults, $NZ70 for children 12-and-under. Kaikoura Kayaks also has sit-on and fishing kayaks for hire and a full kayak school, including sea kayaking, rolling, rescue, surfing and multi-day kayaking. kaikourikayaks.co.nz and +64 21 462 889.
There are also many walks (guided and self-guided), horse trekking, mountain bikes to hire, quad biking, scenic flights, and other activities and tours. Kaikoura i-Site: kaikoura.co.nz.
Kaikoura's an interesting area with a number of environmental initiatives, including Trees for Travellers. For $NZ20 for a small NZ native tree, or $NZ40 for a big one, travellers get to not only offset the carbon they are responsible for producing to get to this east coast region, but buy a living memento and bring more trees into the area. Travellers are also sent the GPS fix of "their tree" so they can see it progress. This is a Kaikoura city initiative managed by Innovative Waste Kaikoura, a not-for- profit organisation working in the community to achieve zero waste and improve the district's environmental impact. (treesfortravellers.co.nz) At Hapuku Lodge and Tree Houses, a New Zealand native is automatically planted for every guest (and the GPS fix sent).
OHAU WATERFALL
The road north out of Kaikoura towards Marlborough follows the coast in rhythmical bends, mountains on one side, ocean on the other. It reminds me a little of driving the west coast of California - just on the opposite side of the Pacific Ocean.
And just 20 minutes from town, I stop on a bend, to park and walk into the Ohau Waterfall. It's a not-much-known spot, and a gem.
The natural waterfall is in a pretty narrow gulley, full of forest and ferns, and here New Zealand fur seal pups wait and play in the fresh water while their parents head out to sea to hunt for food.
A magical spot.
FACT FILE
Tourism New Zealand: newzealand.com.
Air New Zealand: airnewzealand.co.nz.
Kaikoura i-Site: kaikoura.co.nz.
