The Kaikoura Coast Track was my first time doing a private walk, (one that you pay to do), and also my first overnighter. It’s really a combination of two day walks, with the organisers taking your stuff between ‘bach’ style accommodation – so it’s a pretty cruisy way to walk. The scenery on the first day included dark volcanic sands, sea cliffs and patches of native bush. The second day starts inland, and you walk over Skull Peak (489m) with 360 degree views over the area and more native bush as you walk back to the coast. (These views were unfortunately clouded in on the day we did it, so no pics). There’s also quite a bit of wildlife around: lots of seals, but you can sometimes see dolphins and whales. The less attractive sections include sometimes smelly paddocks and a couple of stretches of road, but all in all a nice and unique walking experience.
We did it with friends and it is a nice way to share a walk through pleasant scenery with people that might be of mixed walking abilities. There’s enough walking to justify a nice meal and drinks in your accommodation, but not so much to stop anybody doing it. Roughly 13km of undulating walking each day. There’s more info including pics of those views we missed on the official website.
Kaikoura Coast Track: The Scenery
Just determining if my fitness level is sufficient as I walk tracks eg Peninsula Walkway fine but I’d love to know how steep is the track that you climb up to Skull Peak? And, how far does this uphill part go for?
If it’s really steep for a long way then I may not be suited to the KK Coastal Trsck.
Many thanks
Jillian
Hi Jillian. I’m struggling to remember how steep things get on this walk. It’s certainly not designed to be hard but because some other walks I do are very challenging I didn’t mentally register the difficulty. What I suggest is look at the route on topomap.co.nz and see how close the contour lines are together – that’s proof of the steepness! I’d do it myself but I’m living without wifi at the moment and running out of data fast. You could also ask the owners as they would be able to gauge how an average person manages it. When we arrived there was a big group of older people leaving so I guess not all of them would have been regular hikers. If I learn more I’ll write again.