UPDATED 8:44PM Residents and tourists have made it out of quake-hit Kaikoura using private vehicles for the first time.

80 vehicles carrying about 150 people travelled along the inland road on Friday with a helicopter flying above monitoring their progress.

LISTEN ABOVE: Kaikoura MP Stuart Smith spoke with Larry Williams

The coastal town was cut off after the magnitude 7.8 earthquake on November 14 caused landslips that covered State Highway 1 to the north and south of it.

Initially the town was supported by helicopter flights and naval vessels.

The Kaikoura emergency access route, known as the inland road, was cleared and has so far been used only by army convoys and emergency vehicles.

On Friday, approved private vehicles were allowed to travel in convoy between 1pm and 3pm. It was a one-way trip, heading south.

There was one breakdown and three punctures, and the travel time was about two and a half hours, civil defence said.

The road and its surrounds are still very fragile and the convoy caused additional damage to the road.

A French tourist told a civil defence staff member interviewing people for social media as they left in the convoy that staying in the town after the quake had been a good experience.

"When it's open, go to Kaikoura - it's amazing," he said.

Bob and Jan, a couple from Christchurch travelling in a campervan, headed inland after the quake and stayed on a farm.

They were continuing on their travels and said the experience for them was "probably a little bit worse" because they were in Christchurch when earthquakes devastated that city.

A group of German tourists said their time in Kaikoura after the quake was "actually quite nice".

A New Zealand man who had flown in to check on his holiday house said that while getting in and out was an issue, "in most of Kaikoura itself you wouldn't know there had been an earthquake".

Ministry of Civil Defence and Emergency Management director Sarah Stuart-Black said Kaikoura residents were from Friday able to use home toilets and showers.

Residents had been asked to limit showers to every second day and to keep them short.

The inland road was in a much better condition than it was 10 days ago and work was continuing to get the road open so businesses could start operating again, she said.

Video chat with people leaving Kaikoura by road this afternoon. https://t.co/XJVKJcR261

— Canterbury CDEMGroup (@CanterburyEM) November 25, 2016

Authorities were also continuing to monitor 42 dams in the region created after landslips blocked rivers, one of which prompted the evacuation of residents from Goose Bay earlier in the week, but said some posed no threat if they burst.