FISHING STILL LURES MANY VISITORS TO KAIKOURA

Press, 7 July 1977, Page 23

FISHING STILL LURES MANY VISITORS TO KAIKOURA

Kaikoura .Marlborough’s southernmost town, is an established holiday centre, reached with ease from Christchurch and an attraction for anyone who likes the sea for boating , for its products or just the view' against a mountain backdrop. The products put Kaikoura on the map. Although Captain Cook had named the Kaikoura mountains the Looker-on mountains, the first Europeans were “doers” —

shor e-based whalers Today, with the passing W'hales left in peace, sea products are still the main lure for the holiday-maker.

Just the translation of Kaikoura’s name — “to eat crayfish” — is sufficient to w'het the appetite of New Zealanders who mourn the loss of great quantities of their native delicacy to overseas gourmets prepared to pay high prices for it. From Kaikoura and its beaches the amateur can still get himself respectable hauls of crayfish by setting pots from boats ail along the coast and even by walking around the rocks at low tide, dropping a pot and waiting for the next low tide. Amateurs are wise if they learn the regulations, because fisheries inspectors are also attracted to Kaikoura, particularly at holiday times.

Crayfish are not the only seafood to provide Kaikoura visitors a seafisherman’s holiday meal. The armada of small craft that accompany their owners at holiday times often return well laden with a wide variety of fish taken in nets or on line. Although the yield from surf-casting is not as great as it used to be — some would have that the near-to-shore fish died of lead poisoning from lost sinkers — devotees still

have their favourite places and find reward. Even a line dropped from the main wharf sometimes sets an infant on to a lifetime of fishing as a hobby. There is bathing at safe spots and also an enclosed pool on the waterfront and for the adventuresome young the northern beach of Mangamaunu provides good surf for board-riding.

Apart from the sea, Kaikoura has plenty to offer the visitor. There are bush and seaside walks, one of the favourites being to the end of the peninsula rocks where the occupants of one of the New Zealand’s biggest fur seal colonies flop and frolic for their visitors.

The golf course and bowling greens welcome visitors at holiday times and sports events and galas are also arranged at such times.

Limestone caves are another attraction. Because of its location and its sea and mountain scenery, Kaikoura is a popular “watering hole” for travellers going to and from the Cook Stait ferries at Picton. Those visitors can find parking on a foreshore which has been improved in recent years by community effort; but for those wanting a longer stay , there is a warning.

Kaikoura is such a popular place that during the Christmas and school holiday weeks it is sometimes “bursting at the seams.” It has four licensed hotels, a steadily increasing number of motels, caravan and camping grounds; but it also has those who return year after year, booking for next as they depart, so that it is essential to arrange accommodation in advance at busy times.