Shortly before arriving in New Zealand in October 2016, a significant earthquake occurred. This earthquake primarily affected the West coast of the South Island, with the capital, Christchurch, badly impacted. The most severe effects were felt in and around Kaikoura, a popular tourist destination known for its whale-watching expeditions, which are vital to the local economy.

The main coastal route south to Christchurch was closed for an extended period due to rockfalls. However, the most dramatic consequence of the earthquake was a massive uplift of the coastal plain, including areas that were originally undersea. In some places, the uplift reached around 30 feet, causing the sea to retreat for hundreds of yards from its original location. This resulted in quite shallow water for a considerable distance offshore, which altered the coastal appearance significantly, revealing many rock formations that had been submerged for centuries, if not millennia.

The image accompanying this text shows one example of this uplift, with a shallow ocean noticeable not far from the shore. This situation posed a serious challenge for the whale-watching trips, all of which had to be canceled until one enterprising operator managed to ferry potential clients in an inflatable dinghy to an observation boat anchored in deeper water offshore.

Reaching Kaikoura proved to be quite challenging when driving from the north, as the main road south was closed indefinitely above Kaikoura and was scheduled to remain closed for the foreseeable future. After a couple of weeks, a portion of the road south of Kaikoura was cleared enough to allow access from the south. The closest access point to the cleared road, which was still subject to temporary closures while workers removed loose rocks from the adjacent cliffs, was reached via a dirt road that ran for 100 kilometers through Molesworth Station in the South Island High Country.

The long detour was well worth the effort, as we were treated to a unique landscape that had only been created in the weeks before our arrival.