West Coast Region

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With its backdrop of the Southern Alps, the West Coast is ideal for those who enjoy nature at its best and its worst.
 
Make your base in Greymouth, the largest commercial centre, and you will find plenty of interesting things to do in this area.
 
You will be amazed at what you will discover on the West Coast and where else can you get this close to a glacier?
 
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Hokitika

The gold-rush town of Hokitika lies on an exposed stretch of coast and is renowned for its range of crafts and artefacts made of local jade or greenstone. Each year, in March, the town hosts the unusual Wild Foods Festival. 

 

Karamea 

Karamea is a small dairy town some 100km north of Westport. Its national park, Kahurangi National Park, is home of the famous Heaphy Track. The landscape has impressive limestone caves and arches.

 

Westport 

The Buller River meets the sea at Westport, a coastal town established in coal-mining times. The fur seals, which come ashore to breed at Cape Foulwind, are one of the attractions near here.

For those who would like to visit a seal colony, head off to Tauranga Bay. It's a short walk to view the seals, but please keep at least five metres from the seals and don't come between them and the water.

 

Maruia Springs

Maruia Springs are centrally located approxiately two-and-a-half hours from Christchurch, Nelson, Greymouth and Westport, which makes this an ideal spot to stop if planning a full day's drive to or from any of these destinations.  Maruia Springs has accommodation, natural thermal pools and walks. For those families that love fishing, there are many pristine rivers and excellent fishing to be found.

 

Reefton

Reefton is a living, working heritage town and is surrounded by Victoria Conservation Park, New Zealand's largest conservation park – about 180,000 hectares. Some 50 minutes east of Reefton is Maruia Springs on the Lewis Pass road. 

 

Punakaiki
Punakaiki is 45km north of Greymouth and is the home of the famous Pancake Rocks and Blowholes and Paparoa National Park which covers about 30,000 hectares of land, from native rainforest to mountain tops and rugged coastline. Take a walk out to Dolomite Point and watch the blowholes. Remember to take special care with children while visiting the rocks.
Make sure you have a full tank of petrol, as Punakaiki does not have a refuelling station. The Pancake Rocks were formed from limestone some 30 million years ago. These were then overlaid with layers of mud and clay. Finally, over time, due to earthquakes and the pounding of the sea, the rocks have emerged in their present-day form.

Greymouth

Greymouth is the largest town on the West Coast and makes a good base when touring the region. 
The coast is full of both European history and Maori heritage. The first explorers were the Maori searching for greenstone – pounamu or nephrite jade. The West Coast is the only place where this rock is to be found. Take time to visit the town of Greymouth, have a lemonade at the Blackball Hotel or get your cameras out and marvel at the Pancake Rocks and blowholes at Punakaiki. 
Greymouth is the terminal for the TranzAlpine rail journey across the Southern Alps from Christchurch, one of the world’s great rail journeys. 

Blackball

Twenty-five minutes inland from Greymouth is the small village of Blackball. Like most of the towns on the West Coast, Blackball was, at first, a base for those seeking gold. However, in 1893 the community became established with the opening of the coal mine, although coal mining in this region proved to be anything but easy sailing. 
Although now famous more for its salami and hotel than its militant coal miners’ union, a visit to this town is an interesting outing.  And what about that coal miners’ union? It was best known for its 1903 Crib Time strike, which lasted three months. If you think we have it bad in our workplaces today, imagine striking  —  against the law in 1903  —  to increase your lunch hour from 15 minutes to 30 minutes! By the way, the workers were awarded 80 minutes by the judge! Mining ceased in the area in 1964, as it was no longer financially viable. 

The Glaciers

The Franz Josef and Fox Glaciers are the West Coast's major attractions and are easily accessible. Both glaciers are suitable for families with children.   
 
To get to the glaciers, you can either take the road from Christchurch via Arthurs Pass or from Queenstown over the southern Haast Pass. Please note that there may be some restrictions with campervans and you should check with the hire centres if visiting the glaciers. 
The Fox Glacier falls 2600 metres, is 13 kilometres long, 300 metres deep and only five kilometres from a town, which makes it so accessible. It looks incredible. The glacier was named after William Fox, an early prime minister of New Zealand, after he visited the area in 1872. 
 
While visiting Fox Glacier, a side trip to Lake Matheson is worthwhile, especially if you have budding photographers in your family. The lake is famous for its reflections of Aoraki/Mount Cook and Mount Tasman, New Zealand's highest peaks. You can also walk along a bush track that follows the lake edge.
 
Whether you are travelling in summer or winter, you can view seal colonies at Gillespies Beach and Waikowhai Bluff. 
 
The Franz Josef Glacier is approximately 7,000 years old, some 12 kilometres long and again is only 5 kilometres from a township. It was named by Julius von Haast, a geologist and explorer, in 1863. Franz Josef was the Emperor of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. 

 

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