West Coast Road Trip | 13 Top Things to Do
The West Coast of New Zealand is this funny piece of land separated from the rest by the towering Southern Alps. The West Coast is so separated from the rest that visiting it felt like time travelling to the Jurassic period. Well, sort of. You have towering trees by the relatively straight roads, sometimes with howling winds. I half-expected a dino to jump out.
I’ve been to the West Coast a handful of times throughout my Working Holiday experience. My first trip was three months shy of the lockdown on a weekend from Motueka. I returned to the gloomy West post-lockdown to complete the Heaphy Track and the rest of its highlights.
Planning a trip to the West Coast? Here’s all you need to know from what I have experienced!
I was in New Zealand for the Working Holiday from 2020 to 2022. This post may be updated periodically.
Gateways to the West Coast
Owing to the Southern Alps, there are four ways to enter and exit the West Coast by road. The main state highway across the West Coast is SH 6.
For most travellers, it starts from Wanaka, with your first toilet stop probably at Haast.
The next two entry or exit points cut across the mountain passes – Arthur’s Pass to Christchurch and The Lewis Pass. Both passes link the East and West.
The last point exits the West Coast from Westport to Nelson.
My Weekend Trip to Hokitika from Motueka
Motueka is a small town in the North of South Island that gets busy during the apple and kiwi harvest season from March to June. Most Working Holiday Makers work in the Motueka vicinity during those periods, which makes this itinerary perfect for a weekend!
Motueka to Westport
We drove from Motueka along SH6 towards the West Coast. Buffer for four hours! We cruised by the farmlands and orchards of Tapawera, through towns like Murchison and around the hilly roads near Buller.
There is nothing much to see in Westport. We bypassed the town to visit Tauranga Bay for the seal colony at Cape Foulwind and had homemade sandwiches.
An empty beach makes for good photos.
Punakaiki and the Truman Track
After lunch, we continued south for two hours to the coast of Punakaiki. Punakaiki is made famous for its iconic pancake rocks. You have the pancakes in the West, and meatballs – Moeraki Boulders – in the East.
Pancake rocks were formed when marine fossils from the sea were pushed up by seismic actions aeons ago. Years of erosion ate up the soft minerals, leaving the hardened bits poking here and there. Caves and blowholes are common sights within the vicinity. Apart from the pancakes, we visited a beach – Truman Track.
Greymouth
The journey to our next destination – Greymouth – took us half an hour. There’s nothing particularly interesting in Greymouth, which as its name suggests, was grey, dull and cold when we arrived.
All I could remember was the confusing exits out of the town. We missed our turns around the exits somewhere around the Warehouse.
Santa Fe Milk Bar
We had our dinner at the ‘best’ Fish and Chips stall on the West Coast – Santa Fe Milk Bar. The shop uses retro fonts from the 60s. Its location by the roadside away from the town lends it a rustic vibe. Some digging around the internet suggests a long history, which you could read for yourself.
The meal was decent for the price paid. I had several Fish and Chips in New Zealand, and the best is still the Mangonui Fish Shop in the Northland, though the price can be shocking.
Hokitika Holiday Park
We drove another 30 mins south to our accommodation – Holiday Park – for the night at Hokitika. That particular weekend we travelled to Hokitika happened to be the annual WildFoods Feast. Unfortunately, the event ended at the hour we arrived. WildFoods Feast was said to feature a concert, a campsite and stalls selling strange food – fresh larvae – and crazy costumes.
Review of our accommodation: clean, basic, and affordable. The park met our needs and has ample parking lots. The other option for a budget backpacker would be the hostel in town. But it may be tough finding a free parking lot around the area.
Around Hokitika
Day 2 was mistier and gloomier compared to Day 1. We had periods of annoying intermittent rains.
On the bright side, most of the places we visited happened to be sheltered from the elements. We visited shops selling jade jewellery and toured their mini-museums and workshops. We saw craftsmen polishing and carving intricate designs on their Pounamu – jade in Maori.
Yes – Hokitika is renowned for its green stones! Arahura River – not the Hokitika River by the town – is where most of the stones are from. You can read more about the Maori legend behind the origins of pounamu from Te Ara.
Apart from buying ready-made jade jewellery, it is also legal to fossick or search for raw jade fragments on the beach of Hokitika. NZPocket Guide has written an interesting article here about finding your own lucky jade pieces.
Hokitika Driftwood Sign
You must visit the Driftwood Sign to show you’ve been to Hokitika!
The weather pitied us and cleared a little for us to snap a few quick shots.
Do you know that the sign was originally created for a driftwood competition?
Hokitika Gorge
Our last stop before we bid adieu to the West Coast (for that summer) was the beautiful Hokitika Gorge.
The journey from the beach sign to the gorge took us 30 minutes along the Hokitika River.
It started to drizzle again as we walked from the carpark to the picture-perfect spot. Along the way, we crossed a gorgeous suspension bridge – my first of many to come in New Zealand! – which offered excellent views of the turquoise waters underneath, defeated by colour only by the fast and furious glistering milky blue water of Huka Falls in Rotorua.
The walk was mostly on boardwalks and took us about an hour for a return trip. Bad weather may bring the water level higher, and make the gorge and beach inaccessible. It could also turn the waters muddy like milk tea, Teh-C, or Teh Tarik for fast-flowing frothy areas.
And that is all for our weekend trip to Hokitika. We drove for a straight five hours to Motueka on the fastest route – Highway 7 and 6 – and had some delicious real-fruit ice cream at Thomas Brother.
Beyond Westport and Hokitika
I returned several times more to cover other places above Westport and below Hokitika.
The Copland Track
It is a 2D1N trek with natural hot springs to boot at the end. Some mountain climbers use this track as a way to scale across the Copland Pass (2,150 m). We did this trek after being sacked from our jobs as cherry pickers after the New Year. A track to heal the broken heart.
Fox and Franz Josef Glaciers Heli Hikes
Trust me on this – both Fox and Franz Josef Glaciers Heli Hikes are worth doing. We did ours at the Fox Glacier as it was on promotion. Franz Josef and Fox Glaciers aside, the other glacier is on the other side of the Alps at Mount Cook – The Tasman Glacier.
Aside from the paid activity, you could do free walks from the villages to the edges of the glaciers. It takes 2 hours for the 6.4 km return trip to the Fox Glacier and 30 mins for the shorter 1.7 km return trip to Franz Josef Glacier.
The Heaphy Track
The Heaphy Track is one of the ten Great Walks in New Zealand within the Kahurangi National Park. The park sits in the West Coast and Tasman regions. We completed the track not by foot but by mountain bikes within three days. You can read more about it here.
The Paparoa Track
The Paparoa Track is the last Great Walk in New Zealand and the only walk I did not do. As the track targets mountain bikers with views somewhat similar to Heaphy, we chose to give it a miss. Hikers can walk the track within three days.
Lake Matheson
This small lake is the product of melted glacier waters from the Fox Glacier. It takes less than two hours to complete one round around it. You could take beautiful shots featuring the Alps and their reflections on a good day. We weren’t that lucky then.
Brewster Glacier
The Brewster Track is an eight-hour return trip from Brewster Hut in Mount Aspiring National Park. Adding the glacier would make it a two-day trip in the wilderness. Make sure to book a night at the hut or camp by the glacier if the weather permits. While I did not trek to the glacier, my partner did. Photos courtesy of him.
According to him, the trek is tricky after the hut and cold at night. But camping next to the glacier meant his new hiking buddy and he could savour the milky way backdrop behind the silhouette of the mountains and glacier.
You could find out more about the trek from this blogger who takes stunning photos of tracks on the South Island.
Ending
And that is all from me for the West Coast. As with all the road trips I’ve written about New Zealand, make sure you take frequent rest stops and check the weather beforehand. The mountains and seas and wilderness are always there, so take the time and enjoy your stay!
Stay safe and enjoy your travels!
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