Local Tim O'Donnell turns the power of the infamous Westport Bar in his favour on a foiling surfboard. Born at Lake Rotoiti at the top of the Southern Alps, the Buller River runs west to the coast, spilling into the Tasman at Westport (originally called Buller). Māori lived here in the 14th century, trading pounamu, with sealers, gold miners then coal miners arriving from the 17th century—the river and port serving them all.
Kayakers take on the rapids on the Hokitika River, expertly guiding their inflatable pack-rafts downstream between the rocks. The art to prepare yourself before the rapid, the paddle hard at the ‘V’ formation of water which signifies the main channel, and the best chance you have of a smooth run through.
The Okarito Lagoon is the largest unmodified coastal wetland in New Zealand. It stretches over some 3240 hectares along the coast south of Hokitika, the consequence of flooding rivers, Tasman swells, landslides in the foothills, earthquakes and upheavals—a natural tapestry of change.
Suzanne Hills and Chris Cromey live in a ‘tiny house’, on wheels and off grid south of Punkaiki. In the past five years she has planted 5000 native trees, set solar and wind power generation and even uses ‘solar cooking’. A large vege patch, two ewes and a small hoard of rabbits provide sustenance, pleasure and fertiliser in equal measure.
Paul works on a front end loader to clear off the overburden and get to the gold-bearing quartz and greywacke which is deposited into the floating gold screen. Gold is heavy, so settles to the bottom while the remaining deposits are spread onto the land. Last year 700 kilograms of gold was mined across the West Coast, worth nearly $75 million.
Lake Brunner/Kōtukuwhakaoka is the largest lake in the West Coast region, but also one of the hardest to get to. It’s miles from the state highway that runs along the coast and most of it can only be reached by boat. It’s so deep, shelves so steeply from shore, and looks so black in colour (from tannins in the water ) that locals believed it was bottomless, though the deepest point is just over 100 metres. Kahikatea can tolerate wet roots, so they dominate the lake edge as if permanently in flood.
Waitangiroto Nature Reserve is the only nesting area for kotuku in New Zealand. Some 140 birds breed in New Zealand, always within the same stretch of stream, laying three eggs per nest—all eggs hatch but only one or two survive. The birds were discovered by surveyor Gerhard Mueller in 1865, but had diminished to just six nests by 1877 due to demand for feathers for fashion.
The Hokitika Gorge is one of the highlights of any visit to The Coast. Glacier ‘flour’—the fine powder that is the result of ice grinding rocks to a pulp—suspended in the water paints it a luminous turquoise. The river is also favourite run pack-rafters, a fast-growing sport of enthusiasts who walk in to remote rivers, inflate their craft and paddle out.
Glow worms love damp, dark conditions with little wind, like here the Ananui/Metro cave system, perhaps the largest colony of glowworms in the South Island. The light is the result of a chemical reaction between luciferin (a waste product), the enzyme lucifarse, ATP and oxygen. It attracts prey which get caught in the sticky silk threads. The worms live for only nine months, after which they pupate into a fungus gnat.
New Zealand fur seals splash through tidal pools at Cape Foulwind, near Westport. Female fur seals live in the same colony all their lives, mating in December, giving birth the following November, with lots of fishing trips to sea. There are now about 75,000 fur seals in New Zealand, which have recovered from hunting in the late 1800s and early 1900s, to meet a demand for furry top hats among European gentry.
Lauren Kelley braces herself for a crossing of the Hokitika River on a flying fox—a versatile if invigorating mode of transport on the West Coast. With variable river levels, the flying foxes are an efficient and safe means to get people and gear across the otherwise daunting rivers in the region.
Franz Josef Glacier / Kā Roimata o Hine Hukatere is a 12-kilometre long jigsaw of ice and rock, tumbling some from a névé 2500 metres above sea level—where the ice is 300 metres thick—to 300 metres above sea level, in the middle of the rainforest. It once extended all the way to the sea (19 kilometres away). Today it is three kilometres shorter than it was a century ago.
Dave Johanssen and his daughter Olivia milk 320 cows a day on their West Coast farm at Ahaura, each of them producing some 27 litres of milk a day. Johanssen has been milking cows for four decades, and the kids are on a similar path, taking turns with the milking to earn pocket money.
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