Award-winning ecotourism adventure company EcoZip Adventures has opened its newest location in Kaikōura, with the experience including five ziplines soaring across a spectacular 3000-acre property (Rakanui Farm)
Visitors to EcoZip Adventures Kaikōura start a 3.5-hour adventure at the base of the Kahutara River before riding in ‘Moggy’, a custom-built Unimog 4X4, across Rakanui Station up the mountain range.
From the starting point of the first zipline, visitors are treated to a breathtaking bird’s-eye view of Kaikōura’s South Bay and the Seaward Kaikōura ranges.
Through all stages of the experience, visitors are accompanied by two expert local guides, who describe the history of the region, share stories of the local people, and explain how visitor participation in the EcoZip experience is helping to restore sections of Rakanui Station’s farmland back to native forest.
EcoZip Adventures Kaikōura managing director and co-founder Gavin Oliver launched EcoZip Adventures in Waiheke Island in 2012 and says he’s had his sights on Kaikōura for the company’s second location due to the magnificent landscapes.
“Kaikōura is a must-see destination for travellers in the South Island, and we wanted to contribute a unique land-based option to compliment the fantastic sea and air activities that already exist here,” says Gavin.
“This has been almost a decade in the making, and I’m so excited to see customers enjoying all the mahi that’s gone into this.”
The opening of EcoZip Adventures has been highly anticipated by the community.
Kaikōura Mayor Craig Mackle says, “EcoZip Adventures is a very welcome addition to Kaikōura and our tourism sector. It’s an exciting new and fun land-based experience for both locals and visitors to our town. We’re looking forward to an amazing year ahead as visitor numbers to our region take off again in 2024.”
Conservation and sustainability are at the heart of EcoZip’s ethos and part of the long-term project at the Kaikōura site is to restore the native forests.
“We’re introducing a weed and pest eradication programme, wholly funded by the business, and also a native tree planting programme onsite,” says Gavin.
“The goal is to support the biodiversity of the site, so we’re able, over the years, to show our guests what this beautiful, natural taonga looked like before colonisation changed the landscape.”
EcoZip Adventures was awarded a Qualmark 100% Pure New Zealand Award in 2022, one of only 12 in the country. In 2023, EcoZip Adventures won the Tourism Industry New Zealand Trust Community Engagement Award with the judges saying, “The company’s exceptional efforts to give back to the community showed a commitment that went far wider than just itself”.
EcoZip was also finalists in the Environment Award and Employer of Choice Award.
The company has a keen sense of kaitiakitanga, or guardianship, not just towards the land inhabited by EcoZip Adventures but also towards the wider environment and its people. In the past five years, the company has committed more than $50,000 to the preservation and enhancement of its Waiheke Island site and funding the purchase of more than 1400 trees to be planted elsewhere on the island.
EcoZip Adventures Kaikōura is open seven days a week. Kaikōura is a 2.5-hour drive from Christchurch or a two-hour drive from Picton. Bookings are essential and can be made at ecozip.co.nz.
