Get out, give back, do good
Five ways to travel the West Coast and give back
Transformational tourism is alive and well on New Zealand’s West Coast.
Tourism, the environment and local communities go hand in hand on the West Coast. Our tourism businesses are working hard to create responsible, sustainable businesses that offer regenerative travel experiences.
New Zealand’s Tiaki Promise — a commitment by the tourism industry and an invitation to visitors to protect, care for and enrich the environment and people of this land — is inspiring a new level of careful destination stewardship on the West Coast.
Groups of West Coast tourism operators work together to support conservation initiatives like The Penguin Trust and Okarito Plant Project, contributing funds, volunteering time and effort. By supporting these businesses your tourism dollars will also contribute to these efforts.
Gorsebusters, Ōkārito
ROLL YOUR SLEEVES UP — OKARITO KAYAKS AND GORSEBUSTERS
Ōkārito’s population near triples when the volunteers roll in for the annual Ōkārito GorseBusters event. For 2025 (31 March to 5 April) that could be anywhere from 50 to 80 volunteers from around New Zealand and the world who’ll be joining the locals to get down and dirty eliminating gorse and other invasive weeds from the Ōkārito Lagoon conservation area.
A small, family-operated tourism business – Okarito Kayaks — dreamed up the gorsebusting event during their pandemic down time. It was a hard time for tourism but locals Baz and Gemma say that while it didn’t provide any income, it did give them time to think.
Five years on from its grassroots community conservation conception, GorseBusters has earned national and international attention. Locals with boats and baches, farmers, musicians and hunters help house, feed and entertain the volunteers, who’ve so far managed to cleanup around 50 km of lagoon shoreline.
Autumn is a superb time to explore Ōkārito Lagoon — New Zealand’s largest unmodified wetland, a wilderness haven of incredible biodiversity. Okarito Kayaks offers guided tours and independent canoe hire.
GETTING THERE: Turn off SH6 at 15 km north of Franz Josef, Ōkārito is 13 km further.
Tawaki Penguins, Moeraki
TOURISM PROTECTING PENGUINS
Penguins nest on beaches all along the West Coast but, while you’ll spot their little tracks in the sand, it’s a rare privilege to catch sight of any. However, protecting these rare birds is top of mind for many tourism businesses who volunteer and donate funds to help the cause.
Tawaki / the Fiordland crested penguin and kororā / the little blue penguin and their habitats are a treasure or taonga, which the West Coast Penguin Trust is working to protect and conserve. This work also covers other sea and shorebird species including the Westland petrel or tāiko which only nests on the West Coast. The Trust researches and monitors penguins on land and at sea to better understand and address threats through practical projects such as penguin protection fencing and awareness campaigns.
Kororā nest on the Punakaiki coast beach just below Breakers Boutique Accommodation so it’s only natural that owner/hosts Jan and Stephen are involved with supporting the West Coast Penguin Trust. Each room night booking includes a donation to the trust. .
Tawaki are only found in New Zealand’s southwest, notably around Lake Moeraki where Wilderness Lodge owners Dr. Gerry McSweeney and Ann Saunders have spent 30-plus years protecting these rare birds. They were instrumental in establishing a wildlife refuge in 1989 and since then penguin numbers on the Moeraki coast have nearly tripled largely due to pest control and local regulations banning dogs from the refuge area. They are also involved in penguin monitoring and guests at the lodge can join a nature tour to a private beach where tawaki nest.
GETTING THERE: Breakers Boutique Accommodation is on SH6 14 km north of Greymouth. Wilderness Lodge Lake Moeraki is on SH6, 90 km south of Fox Glacier township.
Nesting White Herons, Waitangiroto Nature Reserve
GUARDIANS OF NATURE — WHITE HERON SANCTUARY TOURS
To live on the West Coast is to love it and that’s a big part of what the Arnolds of Whataroa — the family behind White Heron Sanctuary Tours — have been doing for over 30 years.
A natural spectacle, the mating ritual of the kōtuku or white heron nearly sealed the undoing of this stately water bird. Māori prized these rare birds but it was Europeans with a fashionable taste for their fine lacy breeding plumage that all but wiped out the breed.
By 1944 there were just four nests but fortunately, since then, steps taken to protect the kōtuku and the Waitangiroto Nature Reserve — their only New Zealand breeding ground — have seen the population make a significant come-back.
Today, thanks largely to their on-going conservation work, the third generation of the Arnold family takes small groups out to the colony to watch the spectacular comings and goings of about 50 pairs of kōtuku nesting in trees above the river. The breeding season runs from spring to autumn but they also offer rainforest nature tours when the birds are no longer in residence.
GETTING THERE: Whataroa is 30 km north of Franz Josef township.
Ōkārito Plant Project
PLANTING FOR THE FUTURE — OKARITO BOAT ECOTOURS
Tourism operators in Ōkārito — a tiny community in South Westland — are invested in a collaborative biodiversity project, the Okarito Native Plants Trust, which is restoring natural habitats previously cleared for agriculture. This unique landscape has a rich land and marine biodiversity making it a haven for a wide range of species.
Okarito Boat EcoTours owners Swade and Paula combo their tourism activity with helping to maintain this pristine environment by managing the Okarito Community Native Plants Nursery and the Okarito Plant Project. The nursery — formed in conjunction with the Department of Conservation and the Air New Zealand Environment Trust — grows native seedlings to restore ancient kahikatea wetland forest, providing educational and volunteer opportunities in the process.
This small non-profit community project encompasses tourism businesses in the wider Glacier Country area including Glacier Valley Eco Tours, Ribbonwood Retreat Franz Josef, Franz Josef Glacier Guides, Fern Grove Gift & Design, Matheson Cafe and New Zealand In Depth Bespoke Travel. Visitors can support the project by buying a tour or a product from these businesses, making a donation, purchasing a plant or volunteering during a planting day.
GETTING THERE: Ōkārito is a 25-minute drive from Franz Josef township.
Lake Matheson
EARLY BIRDS — GLACIER VALLEY ECO TOURS
Thanks to passionate conservationists Cliff and Tash from family-owned Glacier Valley Eco Tours, there’s a much better chance that precious native birdlife, such as endangered rowi kiwi and fern birds, inhabiting the Lake Matheson forest will thrive.
In 2018 the couple started Project Early Bird, a community trapping project working in collaboration with Department of Conservation and targeting predators threatening the native birds and invertebrate species at Lake Matheson. It’s a real family affair on Sundays when volunteers come together to monitor and reset the 115 predator traps, and there are plans to extend now towards Lake Gault. They’re also part of the Okarito Plant Project.
You can hear about the progress towards New Zealand’s ambitious Predator Free 2050 goal on a guided walk with Glacier Valley Eco Tours, exploring ancient rainforest at Lake Matheson and on other walks in the majestic Westland Tai Poutini National Park region. There are half and full-day tours suitable for all ages and abilities.
GETTING THERE: Glacier Valley Eco Tours are based in Franz Josef township.
