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Return to the West Coast (19 - 24 March)
WE LOVE THE WEST COAST! You know, Su & I were quite happy at Wanaka, it's a stunning place and we are sorry not to have seen it during the late autumn when the trees are bathed in gold and the mountains tipped with snow, but as soon as we returned to the West Coast it almost felt as though Wanaka was tame in its beauty, because we were instantly reminded of the wildness, remoteness and hugeness of everything. And we felt quite soothed, despite the sandflies!
Our first stop was Haast, 'the edge of wilderness', reached over the Haast Pass from Wanaka, the southernmost of the 3 passes over the Southern Alps. This is a beautiful road to drive, although we didn't take full advantage of the multitude of short walks and viewpoints along the way as we were late leaving, plus it was tipping down for most of the drive, in true West Coast style, though the remainder of our stay was thankfully rain-free. It was a winding road, and in places quite steep though we were bemused to find a 'runaway vehicle' track for any driver who found himself in trouble! We booked in at the Haast Beach Motor Camp for a couple of nights, a basic little camp though adequate, and we found ourselves opposite the Hapuka Estuary Walk, recommended to us by Ann & Bob at Mapua, so we took ourselves off for a little wander and found a charming little walk with kahikatea (white pine trees) growing out of the swampy edges of the estuary, fringed with manuka trees, and mixed with the cabbage trees, nikau palms and ferns so symbolic of the West Coast rainforest. It was so beautiful that we did it again on the second evening, in the sunshine for a totally different experience - this time we could see the mountains of the Mount Aspiring National Park glowing in the distance.
While at Haast we drove down to Jackson's Bay which is the southernmost settlement on the West Coast, set is a stunningly beautiful bay with views back up the coast, of rainforest covered mountains falling down into the sea, though with quite a harsh history: a number of migrants originally settled here and tried to make a living with tiny land allocations and irregular supplies, and all but the hardiest left again, the descendants of those hardy few making a living there today with crayfish and tuna fishing. It's not the friendliest of places, and it really does feel as though you've reached the ends of the earth (the phrase 'arse end of nowhere' springs to mind!) The 'town' is literally a wharf, a handful of houses and The Cray Pot, a shack by the wharf that sells fish & chips and whitebait patties, and on the outskirts is a Pioneer Cemetery that is very poignant and really highlights the harshness of life here in the late 1800's. We did the Wharekai Te Kau Walk, which takes you though lush rainforest and out onto Ocean Beach, a wonderful windswept beach, full of rock pools which hold a multitude of different marine life in them. We spent a happy hour or so exploring the pools where Su picked up a paua shell and I found a pair of reef star, a type of starfish with 11 legs each, before sitting in the sun with our flasks of tea and munching on one of Su's cookies - now it felt as though we were properly back on holiday! We reluctantly tore ourselves away and meandered back along the coast, after first sampling a superb whitebait pattie, and just up the road, as I was staring absently out the window I saw a man intently watching the sea, and then spied a fin - dolphins! Su quickly pulled over and we tumbled out of the car excitedly and watched a pod of dolphins (either Bottlenose or Dusky, probably the former) swim up and down in front of us, leaping from time to time out of the water and flipping over. It was a magical moment and we stood watching them for some time, before returning 'home', stopping again briefly at the bridge over the Arawata River, a beautiful spot where a blue glacial river fed from the Mount Aspiring National Park leads out to the sea. And then we settled down to a lovely Thai curry that Su had prepared the previous evening, and looked up at the immense, bright night sky.
The following day we moved up the coast at a leisurely pace, stopping frequently along the way. Our first stop was the Haast Bridge, the longest single-lane bridge in the country (and one of many along the West Coast - they don't seem to like two-way bridges here!) which again just emphasized how huge everything is here, and how small we are - the bridge seemed to go on forever, the mountains loomed large next to us with a low early morning cloud hovering below the peaks, and the river was wide and fast-flowing. Just along the road was another walk recommended to us by Ann & Bob, Ship Creek, so we followed their good advice once again and stopped for a look. This was a real beauty, kahikatea forest along the swamp edge, a gorgeous still creek, and the icing on the cake, a beautiful west coast beach, fringed with sand dunes, and just to make us really happy we were joined by a pod of Hector's Dolphins who were swimming around just a few metres from where we standing, surfing in the waves and leaping joyfully in the air - another very special moment for us!
Reluctantly we left the dolphins and moved on, making a brief stop at Knight's Point, a coastal viewpoint on the way, though I've seen much better views with far fewer tourists around! Still it was a convenient point for a cookie and flask of tea. We were going to take a walk at Lake Matheson, famous for its stunning reflection of Mount Cook in the waters, but alas the clouds were hanging low over the mountains and Mount Cook was lost from view, so it didn't seem worth it. Instead, we walked to the base of the nearby Fox Glacier. The Fox Glacier and the neighbouring Franz Josef Glacier are only two of approx. 240 (I think) glaciers in New Zealand, but these two are famous for being the only glaciers outside of Argentina that reach down into rainforest, though they are quite different from each other, mainly as Franz Josef, which we saw the following morning, seems a lot greener, the rainforest stretches to the foot of the glacier and covers the sides of the glacial valley. The approaches are also quite different, Fox seems quite barren in comparison, and the glacial valley in which it sits is vertical and makes the valley seem quite enclosed, whereas at Franz you walk to the valley through a rainforest covered path, before reaching the wide glacial valley, which seems much gentler, being covered by rainforest with waterfalls tumbling down along the valley. We also saw Franz on a sunny day, which made a huge difference. Rather predictably these glaciers are tourists attractions and a big money-spinner for the West Coast, so instead of enjoying a peaceful walk in a wonderful natural phenomenon, we were part of a herd of people, shuffling along the track, sometimes overtaken by large groups of tourists heading off, crampons in hand to walk all over this beautiful natural wonder, with helicopters overhead ferrying people up to the top of the glacier to walk down. And I found myself struggling with this - part of me would love to have the money to do this and see what the glaciers were like inside, as you can walk underneath the ice, but part of me wishes something so beautiful and so natural could just be left and appreciated from a distance, rather than becoming just another item on a 'tick-list' of things to do in NZ.
While in this area we stayed at the Franz Josef Top 10, which was a real treat - Robyn & Winston had given us a Top 10 discount card when we left Wanaka which entitles us to 10% off at any Top 10, but Trish had phoned Franz for us and negotiated a special deal, as ex-staff, of a much bigger discount - thanks Trish! And as everything was so expensive here we wouldn't have been able to afford to stay without this, but it was a lovely little treat - we had a bed with proper linen, fridge, kettle and toaster in our room! Amazing how easily pleased we are now!
The following day, after visiting Franz Josef Glacier, we headed up the coast a little way to a very special little place called Okarito, and spent the rest of the day just chilling out. This is a gorgeous spot, tiny like Jackson's Bay, but with a totally different feel, it seems much friendlier, full of artists and people who make a living running eco-tours to see the brown kiwi which live in the surrounding bush, and white heron which come here to breed every year. We enjoyed a day of simply pottering around - walking along the beach, sitting by the lagoon, looking and listening to the birds, and on the way back we stopped to do the Pakihi Walk, a short but steep climb amongst lush rainforest to a viewpoint that looks out over Okarito, the lagoon and shows just how dense the surrounding rainforest is, and for how long it stretches. We both really loved this place, and had we more time would have chilled here quite happily for about a week.
Before leaving the West Coast altogether we moved up the coast to Greymouth, not our favourite place as you may remember from our visit here before Christmas, but a convenient stopping point for a rest, partly as we needed to cross over to the East Coast via the Lewis Pass which leaves from here, and partly as it does have a reputation for having a lot of good, cheap backpacker accommodation. And we were lucky, finding a bed at Neptune's where we had a river view, free cream cakes were delivered in the afternoon from a bakery which we happily stuffed, we spent about an hour each in a lovely hot bath, a real treat (I don't think we've had a bath since we left Wellington) and then slept in proper made-up beds. And the following morning before we left we saw the 'Barber' a natural phenomenon that happens only here and in Siberia according to the owner of Neptune's. An icy wind gathers from the nearby Westland National Park (which includes Mount Cook and the glaciers) and blows down a thick cloud that creeps slowly down the nearby hills and sometimes reaches the town where it can be so thick you cannot see a few feet in front of you. This icy wind is always followed by a very hot day, and it gets its name from the cold equipment you can find at the back of your neck while sitting in a old-fashioned barber's shop.
And that was that, goodbye West Coast. We have loved this part of New Zealand, it's just so wild and windswept and covered with dense luscious rainforest, falling down to amazingly beautiful beaches full of fabulous marine life. Fantastic (except for the sandflies….)
With all our love, Jo & Su, xxx
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