Standing at the lookout on the most easterly point of the Kaikoura Peninsula, you can see forever……….well, maybe not forever, but you can see a very long way. They say you can even see the North Island from here on a clear day.

Maori legend talks of the demi-god Maui, who landed an enormous fish from his canoe and used what is now the Kaikoura Peninsula to steady his foot.

The fish became Te Ika a Maui (New Zealand’s North Island), his canoe Te Waka a Maui (the South Island) and the strong seat of his canoe became Te Taumanu o te Waka a Maui or “the seat of Maui’s canoe” (the Kaikoura Peninsula).

Source: Story board at Kaikoura Peninsula lookout