Six of the best-kept West Coast secrets

Autumn days

Autumn is a fabulous time to visit the West Coast when days are still long enough and winter is far away. After February, March and April are our driest months — perfect for hiking and biking, driftwood bonfires on the beach, sunsets and stars.

Here’s the thing, West Coast weather is actually one of our best kept secrets. True, our rain can be legendary but, to be honest, there are way more days when it doesn’t rain and lowland temperatures are perennially mild (ranging between 0 to 25 deg). Plus we’re much less windy than other parts of the country. Best pack the sunscreen.

Beach beauties

It’s not too late for a beach holiday. Our West Coast beaches are either long and wild, frequently encumbered with driftwood but not much else (least of all crowds) and made for meandering or fossicking. At the other end of the scale — between Westport and Punakaiki to the south and Karamea to the north — discover delightful bijou bays and coves of golden sands and drifts of tiny, polished pebbles that shimmer and clink as the tide washes over.

On the road to Punakaiki, it’s worth the stop and a walk to gorgeous Meybille Bay or along the Truman Track. If you want to stay right beside the rolling surf, there are a bunch of trad Kiwi baches for hire at Woodpecker Bay near Fox River, or take your pick from motorhome and tent sites, and holiday homes at the quirky family-friendly Gentle Annie Seaside resort near Mokihinui. Hire a hot tub and stargaze by night.

If you get down to Hokitika in time, you can still catch some of the amazing driftwood artworks constructed for the Hokitika Driftwood & Sand competition.

Twin glaciers and more

Those famous twin glaciers, Franz Josef and Fox, are really just the tip of our West Coast iceberg. Westland (Hokitika and south) boasts another 175 named glaciers. They’re not quite as easy to get to as the big names, but you can knock off six of them in one afternoon, land in the snow and learn about the history and geology of these places with Hokitika-based family-operated Precision Heli.

On a clear day, New Zealand’s tallest mountain Aoraki Mt. Cook looms majestically over Hokitika’s southern mountainscape. You can catch a different glimpse of its legendary peaks on a windless day in the calm waters of several lakes from the most famous Lake Matheson to Lake Mapourika to Okarito Lagoon.

Then again, for a full adrenaline rush, heli-skydiving from 10,000ft in the air puts an entirely different perspective on mountain-to-sea views. There are only a handful of locations globally where you can tandem skydive from a helicopter, and Franz Josef has New Zealand’s only heli drop zone.

Cultural history — meet the locals

Te Tai o Poutini (West Coast) history stretches back into New Zealand’s earliest human times. One of Aotearoa’s oldest Māori settlements — dating back to 1330AD — lies close to Westport’s Carters Beach and many rare early Polynesian Māori tools and treasures found there are displayed in the Museum of Kawatiri. The museum is part of the new Pounamu Pathway, a series of multi-sensory visitor experiences retelling the legends and history of Te Tai Poutini.

While you can’t visit the archeological site, you can get a glimpse of where and how early Māori and Europeans lived by travelling the new Kawatiri Coastal Trail. This Grade 2, family friendly cycling and walking heritage trail — eight gentle sections — runs between the Buller District towns of Westport and Charleston. The scenic route meanders between rugged cliffs and crashing seas, across suspension bridges, boardwalks and pristine wetlands, and past interpretive signage populated with remarkable stories and local secrets.

Glow worms and stars in your eyes

Charleston —halfway between Westport and Punakaiki — was founded during the gold rushes of the 1860s, a time when great fortunes were made (and sometimes lost). There’s still gold in the hills but deep underground there are other shiny treasures, galaxies of glowworms lighting up spectacular underground grottos. Ride the rainforest train with Underworld Adventures to the beginning of the Te Ananui Caves then follow your experienced guides on a 2-hour exploration of an awesome underworld of beautiful limestone formations, canyons of rushing waters and glow-worm grottoes that ends with a gentle whitewater escape on your tube.

West Coast night skies are something else. For starters, with less than 35,000 residents the West Coast is by far New Zealand’s least populous and most sparsely populated region. Now, one of its smallest communities, Ōkārito has set its eyes on earning International Dark Sky Community status.

The little settlement (pop:32) sits on the shores of Ōkārito Lagoon — a large area of wetland renowned for its varied birdlife — and beside the Tasman Sea. Naturally surrounded by dense rainforest and water, there’s little light pollution to get in the way of viewing the dazzling night skies above Ōkārito so the community has launched a project to achieve the dark sky accreditation. The official process will take a while but the stars are already shining brightly.

Tale of two ends — Karamea and Jackson Bay

At opposing ends of the coastal road stretching along the West Coast’s full 600 kilometres, Karamea and Jackson Bay are two absolute gems. Definitely detour-worthy, a scenic drive in either direction, no crowds anywhere close.

Venture along the coast 32 km south from Haast — gateway to the great UNESCO World Heritage Area wilderness of Te Wahipounamu Southwest NZ — over lowlying coastal plains beside beaches, dunes and clusters of riverside white baiters’ stands to find Jackson Bay. The fishing’s good at the only natural deep-water wharf on the West Coast — blue cod, groper, tarakihi — and regular landings of crayfish from Fiordland. Feast on catch of the day at the little orange food truck called The Craypot.

Sunniest town on the Coast, Karamea’s best known as the western end of the Heaphy Track Great Walk. But you don’t need to be a multi-day hiker (or mountain biker in season) to enjoy the lush primeval delights of Kahurangi National Park. Explore easy short trails through forests of sub-tropical palms or go deep underground on a guided tour into the fascinating Honeycomb Hill caves to discover sub-fossil remains of ancient wildlife.