Wild West

It was all mood and mist the day we walked along Bullock Creek Road in Paparoa National Park, just north of Punakaiki on the West Coast late last year. It was an eerie sort of landscape that spoke of dinosaurs and prehistoric creatures that might leap out from behind the foliage. Towering limestone bluffs rose out of the mist on either side of the road and river and creatures – probably just a weka or two – rustled about in the dense bush. It was wet, silent and beautiful – a Lost World almost, filled with damp moss, earthy aromas and lanky tree ferns. It was a place of caves and deep, hidden potholes and we were walking to the pretty track that led to the deeply incised gorge where the headwaters of Cave Creek emerge from an underground cave system.There were five of us – an Aucklander, an Australian, two from Christchurch and our guide – and we were midway through the West Coast Trail.

Devised by Christchurch’s Tuatara Tours, this four-day walking adventure had taken us through some of the most beautiful, the most dramatic and the most popular walking trails from Castle Hill to Punakaiki and despite never having been a dedicated tramper – hardly a tramper at all in fact - it was hard not to be won over by the rugged, diverse landscapes we picked our way through. But give me lush ferns, flourishing coastal broadleaf plants, towering nikau palms and flat tracks over tiny tight little flowers, slippery rocks and ridiculously high places any day. And it’s here that the West Coast Trail truly delivers. From the Punakaiki Pancake Rocks Loop Track at Dolomite Point with its mist-enshrouded flax ‘forests,’ its gushing blowholes and wild, breathtaking coastline to the moodiness of Bullock and Cave Creeks, the remarkable variety and lushness of the Truman Track and, my favourite, the quiet unspoiled beauty of the Pororari River Track, it’s green in as many shades as you could ever wish to see. It’s the wild West Coast at its best. www.tuataratours.co.nz

The Wild West

Punakaiki, West Coast, South Island. Dec. 2009. Ajr

Here's another view of the 'boiling' seas at Punakaiki on The West Coast. It's almost heresy to say it in these parts but I've never been a big fan of the West Coast - with the exception of the wild and rugged stretch of coast between Greymouth and Punakaiki; and then further north again, from Westport to Karamea.

Mood and Mist

Punakaiki, West Coast. Dec. 2008. Ajr

My imagination ran riot as I made my way through this flax forest near the Punakaiki Pancake Rocks on the West Coast. It was all mood and mist - just the sort of landscape where something prehistoric and dinosaur-like might rear up and confront you. I wouldn't have been at all surprised - but I was rather taken aback when I walked around a corner and came face-to-face with a tourist carrying a purple umbrella. Some things you just don't expect.

It's A Sign

Punakaiki, South Island. Dec. 2008. Ajr

Another in the Road Sign collection

Pancakes and Blowholes

Punakaiki. Dec. 2008. Ajr

There are many parts of New Zealand that I prefer over the South Island’s West Coast but one stretch of coastline – between Greymouth and Westport – is definitely worth seeing. The bush is beautiful, the seas wild and the river gorges have that ‘forgotten’ quality that makes you think of lost worlds. One of the biggest attractions of course, is the Punakaiki Pancake Rocks and Blowholes – a freakish collection of pancake-like limestone formations that were pushed out of the ocean by seismic action over 30 million years ago. If you want to see huge spouts of water gushing out of the caverns below, make sure you get there at high tide. There’s been a lot of work done on the track and it’s now sealed for most of the way, with plenty of rock-walled lookouts that make for great photo-taking….if you can push your way through the crowds of tourists that is.