Maori legend states that the Mythical "Maui" put his right foot on the Kaikoura peninsula, as he hauled up the North Island.

900 years ago, Maori "Moa" hunting parties were the first people to discover this area. As the Maori name for Kaikoura "eating crayfish" indicates, the abundance of food sources in the ocean and forests nearby attracted the Ngai Tahu Maori Tribe to this area.

European settlement of Kaikoura began in 1842, when Scotsman Robert Fyfe established a whaling station here. Fyfe House, which still stands today, was where the whalers would drag the dead whales to, with their long boats. They would then hack the whales up and melt down their blubber for the precious oil that the world was lighting their lamps with at the time.