We began our exploration of the West Coast inland, with a visit to The Old Ghost Road across the border from Murchison (in Tasman). Following State Highway 6 west we came to the coastal town of Westport for supplies, before heading north up the coast via the Denniston Incline. Further north along SH67 and the Karamea Highway, we arrived in Kōhaihai within the Kahurangi National Park. Here visitors come to enjoy one of New Zealand’s Great Walks—the Heaphy Track.
Coordinates
But first, let’s pay homage to an infamous West Coast resident…
Sandflies
With love from Mordor
Sandflies or namu in Māori (often “the little buggers” in New Zealand English) are surely creatures conceptualised by Sauron in the darkness of Mordor. There are 19 species in Middle Earth/ NZ but only three bite (usually at dawn or dusk; only females). Thankfully, of those that do none carry transmissible diseases. The West Coast blackfly (Austrosimulium ungulatum) is one of the biters. They prefer living around water and humid bush i.e. beaches, lakes, rivers and swamps—much of the West Coast! Cover up (no bare ankles/ feet), use a DEET-containing repellent; if when bitten, take an antihistamine and try not to scratch! Overseas visitors may react more to bites than locals. Unfortunately, NZ also has mosquitos and mosquito-like midges too. A Māori myth offers an explanation as to why sandflies bite during the day and mosquitos go for you at night.
❤️ Well-being
A sculpture at Berlins (on SH6) leaves visitors approaching the West Coast in no doubt that the sandflies are out to dine on you: the drill-like proboscis and cutlery intimidate, while jandals (flip-flops) suggest a “sweet as” laid-back Kiwi attitude while they take your blood. In real life they are small enough (2–3mm in length) to render some mesh screens redundant:
The Old Ghost Road
The Old Ghost Road is 85km of shared cycle/ walking track that runs along an old gold miner’s route from around 1885. Traversing the full track typically takes 2–4 days on a bike or 4–5 days on foot. Miners moved in to work gold claims in the area, followed by supporting industries (stores, hotels, etc.) and towns developed in the bush. One such town was Lyell on the Buller River—which has a current population of zero. Poor access over difficult terrain saw the development of satellite towns closer to where the miners were working, such as Gibbstown, Zalatown and Eight Mile (see map below). Little remains now besides degraded stone walls, rusty relics, broken glass—and a surprising number of old leather boots!
The first section of the track runs from the ghost town of Lyell to Lyell Saddle, a distance of 18km. We aimed to get halfway in on the Day 1 leg of the track and were welcomed as we began our hike by the ever-present weka:
As our track shows (Topo GPS app) we made the 9km mark on this well-graded and gentle incline:
Aside from the pioneer remnants, the journey revealed quartz rocks once holding the promise of gold, mists, waterfalls, speckled sunlight on the beech forest floor, moss, and bird song… all of which made for a somewhat meditative experience:
There was also the near-constant hum of wasps feeding on the honeydew (for an explanation, see here). Larger wildlife included goats grazing across the valley, numerous kakariwai/ NZ robin (Petroica australis; first photo); the ngiru-ngiru/ tomtit (Petroica macrocephala; second photo), the song thrush (Turdus philomelos; third photo); and kererū/ NZ pigeon (Hemiphaga novaeseelandiae; not shown). Looking down as well as up, we met a very spindly spider, which the AI-powered species classifier app identified as Forsteropsalis inconstans (fourth photo):
Instead of back-tracking fully, we took the path leading to Lyell Cemetery—in case a reminder was needed this is a ghost road!
The road west
A couple of days later we picked up the road west. We saw some stunning river valley scenery as we made our way along SH6, following the Buller River from Lyell towards Westport on (mostly) good tarmac:
Denniston Incline
After a brief supply stop in Westport and on the basis of iSITE intelligence/ opportune weather, we decided to head for Denniston. Views from Brakehead at the top of the Denniston Incline, part of former coal mine workings north of Westport, were well worth the steep winding road. Huge wagons were used to lower “black gold” (i.e. coal) 518m from Rochfort Plateau to the railway line at the bottom. Information boards outlined a place linked to stories of personal hardship, engineering ingenuity, and apparently humour—despite the risky business done here:
The fairly-extensive site contains remnants of machinery, reconstructions, views to the coast below/ plateau behind, and resident bellbirds:
The road north
We continued north from Denniston on SH67 and the Karamea Highway, passing stretches of wind-swept coast, vast tracts of coniferous forest, steep and winding mountain road, and suggestions of solitude:
Kōhaihai
Later that day we arrived at Kōhaihai Campsite (DOC) in the Kahurangi National Park, which may just be the most gorgeous place we’ve thus far had the fortune to spend the night in. It’s also the trailhead for the Heaphy Track, one of NZ’s Great Walks:
B attempted to compress our long day into two images accompanied by two lines of prose:
The machines that Man makes become rust;
B
The rocks that Nature makes become dust.
It was a pleasure to watch the sun go down from the comfort of a (mostly) sandfly-free motorhome, with this view:
Photographing the afterglow may have come at the cost of one or two sandfly bites, but just look at those colours:
The next morning we would walk on the Heaphy Track—an experience so picturesque it deserves it’s own log.
Join us on future away missions
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