Why the West Coast is the best coast

Wild and untamed, Te Tai Poutini, Te Wāhipounamu and all the other bits are the greatest.

Kia ora, friends! I hope this finds you well. By the time you read this, we should be tucked up inside Brewster Hut, at 1450m elevation, with an uncertain amount of snow around.

I am writing this, however, from the warmth of the ‘Hanger’ [sic] (the communal kitchen) at Haast River Holiday Park. I’ve long wanted to stay at this place, ever since 1st May 2015, when I cycled by on The Big Loop. It was a Top 10 in those days, a holiday park considered a ‘treat’ on my budget-conscious adventure. I glanced as the bike glided past and saw many warm-looking humans, all milling around the warm-looking kitchen. To my proverbial nose pressed against the glass, they were having the time of their lives. I, on the other hand, was frozzing-cold, with another 15km ride to Haast Beach to get done. It felt like I was turning my back on guaranteed comfort to ride off into the cold night.

That and many, many other experiences on the West Coast have nurtured my fondness and intrigue for this sparse and rugged region of Aotearoa. A visit can feel like turning your back on guaranteed comfort, but with it comes a reward. Here’s what keeps me coming back:

The environment
For anyone outdoor-minded, this has to be the place. Or a place to check out, at least.

Stop press - it’s just started hailing in Haast. Hard. Dress for all-weather!

Sandwiched between the towering Southern Alps and the raging Tasman Sea, this unique rainforest environment offers dramatic ocean-front walks, challenging mountain climbs, multi-day cycle routes and rewarding mid-grade tramping in between. Oh, there’s glaciers, too!

Mountains to sea: scenes of the West Coast

The beaches are grey and deserted of people, the flax slaps about wildly in the pumping wind and the waterfalls delight at receiving yet another top-up from a passing deluge; the Wet Coast.

Even the driving is unique, with State Highway 6 linking up the entire experience, The Great Coast Road the jewel in its crown.

The history
From Māori expeditions over the alps on pounamu (greenstone) gathering missions to the late 1800s and the arrival of Chinese miners hoping to strike gold, the Coast has a rich and varied past.

Lake Paringa, Westland, NZ

Old gold-mining settlements, the likes of Reefton, Hokitika and Ross, survive to this day, but it’s the vanished settlements of old that really spark the imagination. Take Goldsborough/Waimea, just northeast of Hokitika. Now a DOC campsite, largely returned to nature, this was once a thriving town of more than 1,000 people, with two hotels a post office. Now: trees, birds and campervans.

Even further removed from modern tourist routes, you’ll find Five Mile Beach. Now a hard-to-access windswept beach, but behind it once stood a town. A little over the high water mark, the settlers built shops and services. The place thrived and then the gold ran out.

Five Mile Beach: once the site of a thriving gold town

The people
While cycling the coast, a good friend of mine offered up her holiday home in Ross. Before I could get there, the property manager made contact with me to arrange my stay. Having spent my birthday at Haast Beach, with no internet and out of contact with loved ones, I got up the next day and did the hard yards by biking 133km to Fox Glacier and back into phone signal¹.

I arrived after dark, set my tent up and wandered up the road to the Cook Saddle. I felt I deserved a beer and a meal, while I messaged people. After my main, I perused the dessert menu and ordered. Then, when the bill came, the server said “somebody’s treating you to dessert”. It was the property manager! Knowing it was my birthday, she’d called the pub and shouted me my sweets. Need I say more about the people?

I mean, I could. I later stayed with a mate’s parents in Hokitika, who took me out on the town. And the people at Punakaiki Beach Camp have always been a welcoming bunch.

So, yeah, there are some good egg Coasters.

Bush bath: brainchild of Punakaiki Beach Camp - I was asked to trial it in 2015. I understand it never made it to market. Shame!

Well, the hail has stopped here at Haast, so fingers crossed for the night in the tent and our hike.

Friday’s climb up to Brewster Hut will mark the end of our West Coast shenanigans on this big hike journey. Along with this, we’ll have run the track around Lyell, hiked up to Carroll Hut for a night and walked along the old pack track to Three Mile Lagoon. Details and photos next time!

Stay safe until then,
Dunc on the Coast

(That’s how you write a piece about the West Coast without mentioning sandflies!)

1. Worth noting this was in the ‘olden days’ of 2015, when the cellphone signal ran out Wānaka and didn’t return until Fox Glacier!