We are on a 6-week road trip around New Zealand's South Island in a motorhome we call Vwhā, and recently enjoyed a stop at Cape Foulwind on the Island's north-western coast, fronting the Tasman Sea. Leaving there, we drove south to see more of this stunning western coastline.
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| Views from the west coast road of New Zealand's South Island |
It is a beautifully wild coast, with the road winding past beaches showing huge rocks and a roiling Tasman Sea. For added interest, we also spied some distant mountains which were the northernmost part of New Zealand’s (NZ's) famous Southern Alps.
We were heading south, and soon came across the Paparoa National Park where we stopped to walk the short Truman Track. The track meanders through a dense unspoiled subtropical forest full of native palms, tall rata trees and other podocarps, to a viewing platform overlooking a small hidden beach. It was very lovely.
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| Punakaiki Pancake rocks, west coast of NZ |
Just a little further up the road, we found the 30-million-year-old Punakaiki pancake rocks. We followed a very well-maintained circular walkway through native forest, for an up-close and fabulous view of the interesting rocks and the rugged coastline.
The rocks are formed of tiny fragments of submerged marine matter that, after millions of years of pressure from the sea, have formed into layers of rock. Eventually thrown to the surface by earthquakes, over time, the wind and sea carved them into fantastic shapes to form a quite dramatic picture.
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| Street in Greymouth, NZ |
Our next stop was in Greytown. We drove through the town finding some lovely historic buildings, and a walkway along the river. But it was very quiet, with not many people about. So we visited the local supermarket and filled up with diesel, then moved on.
We wanted to see Lake Brunner, so we turned inland, driving up the Arnold Valley to a wee small town called Moana. As we looked around admiring the Lake, we spotted the Lake Brunner Motor Camp that said to us “stop here”! So we did, and camped in a lovely position above the lake.
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| Broody Lake Brunner, Moana, NZ |
Lake Brunner is a stunning, brooding kind of lake set in beautiful mountains and ancient forests. It was a lovely, peaceful place to stop for a couple of nights.
While there, we did a lovely short walk through the forest and along the beach, then topped off a great day with fish’n’chip from the caravan parked at the camp. After a few lovely days of relaxation, we moved on.
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| The spectacular Otira Viaduct through Arthur’s Pass, NZ |
We wanted to drive through the Southern Alps so drove Arthur’s Pass, one of the three main mountain passes through the Alps. The drive took us over the spectacular Otira viaduct, with plenty of twists and turns, and river and mountain views. We had heard that it was a wonderful drive, and it didn’t disappoint.
At around the half-way point, we reached a walkway to visit the Devil's Punchbowl Falls. This proved to be a long uphill walk with many, many steps through a beech forest. We puffed our way up those steps to be rewarded with a close-up view of the falls.
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| Devil's Punchbowl Falls, Arthur's Pass, NZ |
The water fell straight down 131 metres into a pool at the bottom, before flowing down the hill through a very rocky river bed. After navigating the huge number of steps back to the start of the walkway, we headed into Arthur’s Pass township for lunch.
While there, we were entertained by the antics of a large kea, the world’s only alpine parrot and a NZ native. He seemed to be busking for food from café patrons. Leaving the Pass, we retraced our route back to the coast, pausing at the historic pub in Otira to admire the giant statue of Gollum on its roof.
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| Marg on the beach at Hokitika, NZ |
Our next stop was the coastal town of Hokitika. It has a very sandy beach with a huge amount of driftwood which the locals use for sculptures, and the word “Hokitika” is constructed out of driftwood on the beach-front.
Hokitika is known as a “Cool Little Town”. We certainly found it to be a vibrant and tidy town, with quite a lot of public art, plus some attractive historic buildings. We had a nice wander around, then decided to move on as it was still quite early in the afternoon.
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| Leigh on the West Coast Tree-top walkway, Hokitika, NZ |
Leaving there, we turned inland to the West Coast Tree-top walk, which was amazing. It took us along a steel platform 20 m high and over 450 m long, which put us right up among the rainforest canopy. We were looking in the face of ancient giant rimu and kamahi trees.
It was a special feeling to look down on the forest below; the trees can be seen in such a different way. From one of the walk’s towers, we could see the Southern Alps and the Tasman Sea. It was a very lovely experience. Leaving there, we looked for a place to camp for the night and soon arrived in Ross.
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| Our campsite beside the lake in Ross, NZ |
Ross, is a quaint and tiny settlement. As we drove around, we saw three other motorhomes parked beside a small lake so we drove in and decided it was a good place to spend the night. Notwithstanding the well-lubricated patrons at the historic Empire Hotel opposite, we spent a very peaceful night there.
Ross is known for the discovery, over a century ago, of New Zealand’s largest gold nugget. Later, gifted to King George V, it was melted down for a royal tea service! Gold is still mined in Ross and you can pan for gold – but we didn’t. The next morning, we continued driving south along the coast road.
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| The historic fishing shed on the wharf at Ōkārito, NZ |
Then we spotted a sign to Ōkārito and followed it. This tiny settlement is set in quite a dramatic environment bound by the ocean, estuary, cliffs, and forest. Now-days, its home to around 30 permanent residents and more than 76 species of native birds including the kōtuku/white heron and royal spoonbills.
It is also home to an ancient fishing shed, and Donovan’s Store which is one of the last original buildings there, and the oldest on the west coast.
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| Franz Josef glacier (UNESCO), NZ |
Our next stop was the town of Franz Josef to see the glacier of the same name. We found a viewing point and spotted the glacier behind its mantle of grey cloud, but couldn’t get any closer than 2 km from its head. We recalled being here years ago when it was so much closer to the road. It felt very sad, seeing the extent to which this glacier has receded in our lifetime.
Franz Josef marks the beginning of Te Wahipounamu-South West New Zealand. The area is a UNESCO World Heritage Site due to its ancient native rainforest, glaciers, fiords, lakes, waterfalls and two native birds – the kea, and the rare and endangered flightless takahē.
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| Fox glacier (UNESCO), NZ |
Rain was threatening, so we drove on to Fox Glacier. After driving to the viewing point, we were lucky as the cloud cleared to give us a good but distant view of this amazing river of ice.
It was getting quite windy by this time so we headed to the Fox Glacier Top 10 campsite and settled in for the night. Unfortunately, the weather deteriorated into howling gale force winds and rain, which gave us a very rock-n-roll night in our big motorhome. The next day was the same, so we stayed put.
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| Reflective Lake Matheson, Fox, NZ |
The following morning, we drove to nearby Lake Matheson, a small glacial lake famous for its mirror views. It was a beautiful forest walk to the lake where we saw lovely reflections of lake-side trees.
We noticed that both Franz Josef and Fox towns were devoid of the usually high number of tourists. While we were happy to have these places to ourselves, COVID restrictions seem to have had a very negative effect on tourism and therefore, the local economy.
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| The wild Tasman Sea coast at Bruce Bay, NZ |
Leaving Fox and driving south, we had lots of native trees and one-way bridges. Then we were stopped by roadworks at Bruce Bay, where the waters of the Tasman Sea had washed out the road. We had plenty of time to admire the sea views while we waited.
Driving onwards, we stopped at lovely Lake Paringa for lunch, seeing many people fishing for trout out on the water. After that, we enjoyed the reflections on Lake Moeraki, and then stopped to view the rocky shoreline of Knights Point. It was a really interesting drive.
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| The beach at Ship Creek, NZ |
Next, we stopped at Ship Creek, a hauntingly beautiful stretch of beach and dunes dotted with native plants and a wee creek. Its name comes from the many pieces of shipwreck that have washed up there over the years.
Leaving Ship Creek, we drove to Haast, aiming to drive through the Southern Alps via the Haast Pass, but there’s more about that in the next blog.