The Great Coast Road
Punakaiki's claim to fame is Dolomite Point, where a layering-weathering process called stylobedding has carved the limestone into what looks like piles…
Must-see attractions in The West Coast
Buller Region
Every gold-rush town needs a still, and Reefton's got a goodie in the form of this operation that makes use of foraged botanicals and spring water sourced…
Westland Tai Poutini National Park
On a good day, the famous 'mirror lake' reflects extraordinary views of distant Aoraki/Mt Cook and Mt Tasman in its forest-shaded waters. The best time to…
Buller Region
It's almost an hour's walk each way from Kōhaihai along the beginning of the Heaphy Track and over the hill to Scotts Beach – a wild, empty shoreline…
Buller Region
Six hundred metres above sea level, Denniston was once NZ's largest coal town, with 1500 residents in 1911. By 1981 there were eight. Its claim to fame…
Buller Region
Remote Waiuta is one of the West Coast's most famous ghost towns. Spread over a plateau, this once-burgeoning gold town was swiftly abandoned after the…
The West Coast
Lying at the heart of a 7000-hectare scenic reserve, 18km southeast of Hokitika, beautiful Lake Kaniere is 8km long, 2km wide, up to 195m deep, and…
The West Coast
Water this turqouise doesn't come easily. Half a million years of glacial movement sculpted Hokitika's ravine; the rock 'flour' ground over millennia…
Westland Tai Poutini National Park
Follow Cook Flat Rd for its full 21km (the final 12km is narrow, winding and unsealed) to this remote beach, a ruggedly beautiful, wind-blasted length of…
The West Coast
Serene Lake Māhinapua lies 10km southwest of Hokitika, screened from SH6 by its surrounding forest. The scenic reserve, gazetted in 1907, has a picnic…
Westland Tai Poutini National Park
It's a very long way from the actual glacier, but this parking area provides a surprisingly good view over fields to Fox Glacier (weather permitting)…
Franz Josef Glacier
The purpose of this feel-good attraction is breeding two of the world's rarest kiwi – the rowi and the Haast tokoeka. As well as a chance to hang out with…
Greymouth
Good fun for kids and young-at-heart travellers, Shantytown is a recreated 1860s gold-mining town, 10km south of Greymouth. Peer inside a church, a tavern…
Buller Region
Westport's 'black gold' is paid homage at this remarkably interesting museum, adjoining the i-SITE. A replica mine, well-scripted display panels and an…
Greymouth
The original Monteith's brewhouse is the HQ for this nationally famous beer brand: glossy and a wee bit corporate, but it delivers a high-quality…
Franz Josef Glacier
Survey the skies before embarking on the short, steep walk to the top of Sentinel Rock: the lookout reveals either impressive views of the glacier valley,…
The West Coast
At nightfall, bring a torch (or grope your way) into this grotto on the northern edge of town, signposted off SH6. The dell is an easy opportunity to…
Franz Josef Glacier
Formed by centuries of glacial meltwater, this dainty kettle lake girded by native rainforest is an easy 1km-return walk from the main glacier car park…
The West Coast
A visit to Sunset Point is a quintessential Hokitika experience: watch the day's light fade away, observe whitebaiters casting nets, munch fish and chips,…
Greymouth
A wide community of West Coast artists is represented in this former bank, which displays contemporary NZ prints, paintings, photographs, jewellery and…
The West Coast
Blackball's major talking point is this century-old pub, once known as the Dominion. When it was renamed in the 1990s, a certain global hotel chain got…
The West Coast
Tiptoe through the darkened kiwi house to watch the birds rummage for tasty insects, or stare a tuatara – a reptile unchanged for 150 million years – in…
The Great Coast Road
For a true taste of the region’s gold-mining past, swing into this former mine, 3km north of Charleston. You'll get a friendly primer on the 1860s mining…
Blackball Museum of Working Class History (Mahi Tūpuna)
The West Coast
Consisting of outdoor displays and a couple of shipping containers, this appropriately humble 'museum' tells the fascinating story of how Blackball came…
The West Coast
Okarito is home to world-class landscape photographer Andris Apse. His precisely composed gallery showcases his beautiful works, which are printed on-site…
The West Coast
Alongside the highway, 32km northeast of Haast Junction, and within the bounds of the World Heritage wilderness, Lake Moeraki is an undeveloped and…
Buller Region
Looking like a ZZ Top tribute band, the straight-talkin', bearded fellas at this recreated high-street mining hut rollick your socks off with tales tall…
Murchison Museum & Information Service
Buller Region
This small volunteer-run museum showcases all sorts of local memorabilia (coins, minerals, telephones, sewing machines, toasters etc), the most…
The West Coast
Admire expansive views of boulder-studded sea from this roadside lookout. A granite column commemorates the opening of this section of coastal highway in…
The West Coast
Admire the gallery space of Czech-born local Petr Hlavacek, regarded by many as one of NZ's finest landscape photographers, and buy a print if you're…
The West Coast
The community-run Goldfields Heritage Centre harks back to Ross's shiny years, with displays and dioramas on gold mining, a scale model of the town, and…
The West Coast
Housed in the gorgeous, recently strengthened Carnegie Building (1908), this museum has displays on greenstone, gold mining, history and whitebait fishing.
Westland Tai Poutini National Park
On a clear day, this is one of the best land-based positions from which to see Fox Glacier (though its retreat may mean you see just a snippet).
Buller Region
Housed in an old church 2km east of Reefton on State Highway 7, this museum is crammed with prospecting paraphernalia.
The West Coast
Hari Hari is where swashbuckling Australian aviator Guy Menzies crash-landed his trusty biplane into a swamp after completing the first solo trans-Tasman…
The West Coast
This handsome Catholic church, completed in 1928, could only be admired from the outside when we passed through, due to earthquake-strengthening…
Buller Region
Up the driveway from Blacks Point Museum is the still-functional Golden Fleece Battery, used for crushing gold-flecked quartz. Ask at the museum for entry.
The West Coast
Iconic only to West Coast locals, Hokitika's attractive clock tower was unveiled in 1903 to commemorate King Edward VII's coronation and to memorialise…
Greymouth
When we passed through, this pictorial museum of Greymouth's gold rush days was closed indefinitely, to allow the handsome 1924 building to undergo…
