Kohaihai- Sandfly Heaven

Our shift from the Karamea Domain to the DOC camp at Kohaihai has to have been our shortest moves yet. We travelled all of 16kms, no morning rush to get on the road (not that ever is with us), no dump station, no groceries, just a top up with water, a wave goodbye to the hosts and then a leisurely amble up the coast to the end of the road which is as far north as you can go on the West Coast.

We could have stayed on at the Domain and visited Kohaihai as a day trip but I like staying at the DOC camps and we also wanted to do a bit of exploring around the beginning of the Heaphy Track- one of NZ’s ‘Great Walks’.

Dairy farms border the road both sides right to the last 3kms of gravel and the beginning of the Kahurangi National Park (we’re back again). It’s a pity the entrance to the park is not a lot nicer, the last farmer has his sheds on one side of the road and his house on the other, and everything in between and surrounding them is one big jumbled mess. Why they have to leave their bale wrap scattered about where it's dropped, I have no idea.

We smile as we pass a hitchhiker, he only has a kilometre or so to go and if he’s intending to walk the track he needs all the exercise he can get! We've passed quite a few hitchhikers on our travels & when they see such a large vehicle approaching, I think, they think, we have heaps of room available Or perhaps we’ll let them into the van to sit and have a bite to eat as we tow it along. The look of disappointment on their faces is priceless.

The DOC camp is quite large with a mixture of sites available; under pine trees overlooking the sand dunes, along the edge of the river and on grassy areas on the inside of the road that circles one way through the camp. There’s also an information shelter at the start of the Heaphy Track, with the tide times and the weather forecast.

We leave the messy BBQ pits and picnic tables for the tent dwellers and we don’t get sucked into setting up under the trees where we’ll not get TV reception. We park on a large grassy patch where a caravan, that looks like it’s been there for a few days, is parked and where a motorhome joins us later in the afternoon.

The beach is stunning, there is a deep drop off behind the wave line and swimming is not recommended although the sea looks very inviting this day. Going by the angle the wind-blasted bush on the hill behind is growing, there is obviously a strong prevailing westerly wind.

One thing I have noticed on the west coast beaches is how far the waves come up the beach at high tide or when it’s rough. We’ve seen a few places where the waves actually come up and over the crest, reaching into the dunes behind. It must be to do with the steep drop off, the waves don’t break until they’re right inshore. At Flagstaff Beach near Karamea, the waves actually broke through the dunes and flowed down into the estuary behind.

Flagstaff Beach - Karamea Estuary

The West Coast is famous for it’s sunsets but so far I haven’t done too much about them with regards to taking photos. I’m usually busy getting dinner, or having a wine before getting dinner. Unlike an evening in the North Island, you mostly can’t sit outside enjoying the last of days rays because of the constant harassment from sandflies, another thing the West Coast is famous for.

We’d been warned numerous times about the sandflies at Kohaihai- they swarm in great clouds, they are huge (the smaller, the nastier in my opinion), they bite uncontrollably, they suck the blood until you’re dry. And everyone has a remedy that works. For them.

Unlike a couple I overheard in the Westport iSite, we decided long ago (after a major run in with sandflies at Mavora Lakes) that no amount of harassment was going to put us off visiting places because usually the most stunning settings are the sandflies’ favourite places too- Mavora Lakes, Milford Sound, Doubtful Sound, Nelson Lakes, Marlborough Sounds, Lake Kainere and now Kohaihai. The couple I overheard were wanting to travel from Wesport to Nelson, camping along the way at the DOC camps for a night or two. BUT they didn’t want there to be any sandflies! Hmmm…..I struggled to keep a straight face as the woman behind the counter tried to explain to them that wouldn’t be possible. It brought to mind a quote I once read;

If you think you’re too small to make a difference, try spending a night in a tent with a sandfly.

We have tried many different sprays of many different strengths- I have half finished tins and bottles of potions spread far & wide, I have a wrist/ankle bracelet to wear with smelly stuff in it, we even light the appropriate candles after dark when we are outside. But I’ve found none of them totally deter sandflies, most deter them a little, some are totally useless- the best option is too wear long sleeves, long pants & long socks- I can’t do that, I get far too hot even with the lightweight gear. I’ve just learnt to ignore the bites if I get any and if I do inadvertently scratch an itch, the Soov goes straight on. So far, *touch wood*, other than a bit of swearing every now and then, we’re surviving ok.

The elderly lady in the photo above had the right idea, thick gloves and a hat with an insect screen. She’s a Coaster and even she is not immune to the little blighters! This lovely lady was camping in her van under the trees at Kohaihai, her daughter & son-in-law were in the caravan beside us. They’d been there for two weeks and came from further down the Coast near Okarito. This morning she had ridden down the road to the dairy farm, returning later with a very large bag, full of tasty fresh mushrooms, some of which she shared with us.

There are a couple of short walks that can be done when visiting Kohaihai, you can also do day walks on the Heaphy Track if you don’t intend to walk the complete 78km track. If you are walking the complete track it takes a bit of organising to arrange your transport options; the ends of the track are 463km apart by road and are both in quite isolated areas. We visited the other end when we were in Golden Bay last year

This is the Kohaihai River swingbridge, it’s just a few steps away from the camp. Like all the waterways in the area the river is tannin stained. The mouth of the river is partially blocked- the waves were crashing in at high tide but nothing was flowing out once the tide receded. We heard that the Nikau Walk was flooded the other day with walkers having to wade through thigh deep water. I guess the winter rains will flush it through.

The Nikau Walk leaves the main Heaphy track just over the swingbridge and does a short circuit through a beautiful grove of Nikau Palms.

It reminded me of walking through our lovely native bush & nikau garden at home in Tauranga, albeit that we only had about 20 palms, here there were hundreds. David wasn’t impressed, he thought it looked untidy with all those fronds laying about. “This is natural rainforest, not my garden!” I told him. I think I spoilt him keeping our garden’s understory trimmed and tidy. Once again there were quite a few flowering rata vines climbing in amongst the palms.

At the end of the Nikau Walk you can either return to the camp back along the boardwalk or carry on along the Heaphy Track walking up and over the Kohaihai Saddle to Scotts Beach. We decided to do this, I would have liked to have walked to the Heaphy River & Hut where the track turned inland but that would have been a 10 hour return walk and you have to time it right with the tide around Crayfish Point at the end of Scotts Beach.

The view of the campground from near the top of the saddle.

The lookout over Scotts Beach below. The day was very hazy with sea spray and mist reaching high up into the bush behind.

We cross a rocky stream just before we reach the beach…

...and then the track skirts along the edge of the sand. There are a number of signs warning us to watch out for rough seas and, explosives? We hesitate for a moment and then move out onto the sand where we can then see that DOC are blasting a track through the rock around the point. We had seen the helicopter flying in supplies, it was landing near our campsite, and we also saw two motorcross bikes tucked into the bush just off the track when we arrived at Scotts Beach, we’d seen their tire tracks on the way in. But the riders were nowhere in sight- maybe they were having lunch.

We stopped below where they were blasting (don’t worry, we could hear if anything was about to happen) and sat on the rocks to have lunch. The tide was on it’s way out and had only just left the rocks trampers had to walk around to continue on their journey- these ones were a little further out.

I can never get over the fact that just when you think you’re the only people around for miles, someone makes an appearance- this time it was a young woman with a huge pack coming around the point from the other direction. After 5 days of dried or reconstituted food, her mouth must have been watering at the sight of our lovely fresh fruit, sandwiches and cup of tea!

More Nikau Palms- imagine the clean up underneath those ones David!

After getting beaten up once again by those darn pesky sandflies we head for home back along Scotts Beach. You can see it’s just a short climb up to the saddle- the dip just back from the point- although our legs complain when we get home, so it must be steeper than it looks.  I think if it had been a clearer day then this walk would have make a better impression on us, we both thought is was just average.

There’s another short walk- the Zig Zag Track- to the top of the hill behind the camp ground, in my book it says 20 minutes one way. I know it’s going to be a steep climb but I’m wanting to see the view. The sign only says 2 minutes and it’s looks like someone has rubbed away the zero. I head up the track to find out that it is only 2 minutes, the track ends on a small plateau just above the camp. I think DOC have let the bush reclaim the rest of the walk, I can see the hint of a track through the overgrown scrub but it’s too thick to walk. I head back down taking this shot of the river and swingbridge on the way.

We decide to leave Kohaihai after two nights, the weather forecast isn’t great and we have in mind that’ll we’ll take a quicker run down the coast than planned, through to Hokitika so we can go inland to Lake Kaniere for the Easter break. We stay at the NZMCA Westport Park for one more night on our way through, it’s amazing, after the very busy nights on our previous stay, that now there are only 3 vans in for the night. Either it’s the change in weather or everyone has gone home for the holidays.

North- To The End Of The Road

Ok, back to it. Just so you don't get confused, these next few blog posts are from the last couple of weeks when we travelled from Westport up to Kohaihai and then returned heading south to Lake Kainere for Easter (& where we still are and still sitting it out in the pouring rain- I know the West Coast has something like 200 days of rain a year but this is ridiculous!)


We left Westport, heading north along the coast, bound eventually for the DOC camp at Kohaihai at the end of the road and where the Heaphy Track ‘Great Walk’ starts. It’s only a little over 100kms to the end of the road but, as has become our custom, we only move 40-50kms before setting up camp again. With no itinerary and all the time in the world to get there, we enjoy the luxury of not being in a hurry.

Our first stop is at the Gentle Annie Beach Campground which is just over the river from the tiny beach settlement of Mokihinui. The campground was on the corner of a working farm, a large grassy open area with smaller sites surrounded by hedges (no powered sites), and just across the road from the beach. The cafe come resident’s lounge was called the Cowshed Cafe and was in fact located in an old cowshed.

A 4km gravel road led down to the Gentle Annie Beach, leaving the main highway just over the Mokihinui River bridge and just before the long and winding climb over the Karamea Bluff. Later we took a drive over to Mokihinui where there was a collection of older houses and holiday baches. The Tavern looked like it may only be used over the summer holidays (and during whitebait season no doubt). The photo, middle right is looking back over the river mouth to our camping ground.

Across the road from the campground the beach was lined with diftwood in all directions. Great big piles of it snaked along the tide lines off into the distance. In some places the row curved far into the paddock where rough seas had carried it through gaps in the sand bank. West Coast’s iconic nikau palms grow randomly through the paddocks, spared by the settler’s axe many years ago, although providing little shade for the stock they are a visual treat. Hundreds more poke their heads out from the thick native bush behind.

Abandoned houses make interesting photo subjects….

We couldn’t believe our eyes one morning when a neighbour opened their door to let three large dogs out. It wasn’t a very big caravan, I don’t like to think what it was like inside especially when they all came running back from the beach covered in water and sand and went racing straight inside! I did feel rather sorry for them when they were tied up together though, one was a young dog who kept moving about and tangling the other two up or dragging them form side to side.

We did a couple of short walks while in the area (short being the operative word!) Not far inland, along side the river is the tiny farming settlement of Seddonville. Seddonville, you might remember, is where the 80km Ghost Road bike trail and tramping track finishes- it starts at Lyell, in the Buller Gorge where we stayed.

The Chasm Creek Walkway is a short 2km track that runs along the river bank & beside the road (obscured by bush) just before Seddonville. It was once a rail corridor for the line used to cart timber & coal from mills & mines further up the valley. We were a little worried whether we’d get to see the tunnel and the glow-worms on the walk as there was a notice saying the footbridge was closed.

We took a chance and while the first 500 metres- apart from the splashes of red from the flowering rata vines- was very non-descript, just a bit further on the most amazing and beautiful moss hanging gardens came into view. Growing on both sides of the rock cutting before the entrance to the tunnel and also overhanging the tunnel opening were many vibrant shades of green & rust coloured mosses which draped and smothered the surrounding rock faces, while behind a fine layer of water seeped down the walls keeping everything moist and spongy. A curtain of water also dripped down on us as we entered the tunnel. In some places the moss was at least a foot deep.

The tunnel was short and and the track finished at the bridge just on the otherside- we’d chosen the right end to walk from- you could also walk in from the road closer to Seddonville but this would have been frustrating, seeing the tunnel across the closed bridge and not being able to get there. The bridge had been boarded up and there was no way around it. It was obviously the old rail bridge over Chasm Creek and closed for safety reasons. It didn’t look like there were going to be repairs done to it any time soon, if at all. Which would be a shame as it a good little walk to do if you’re in the area.

After Chasm Creek we drove further on into the valley, past Seddonville and down a gravel winding road(what’s new?) for about 10kms. This brought us to the northern end of the Charming Creek Walkway which starts in Ngakawau 3hrs walk away and follows the corridor of, once again, an old railway. Just over the bridge from the carpark are more remnants from an old coal mine and timber mill. Charming Creek Walkway is rated as one of the South Island’s top five day walks but I can’t confirm whether this is true or not as we decided to give it a miss. Perhaps we’ll walk it the next time we’re in the area.

Our next stop heading north was Karamea but not before crossing over the Radiant Range on a 26km winding and sometimes narrow road that winds its way up and over the hills. Who would live in Karamea I wonder- not many I find out later- having to drive all this way to get to civilization and then its only Westport (sorry Trev). Karamea is about as far as one can get away from it all in New Zealand (by motor vehicle at least). A place of endless wild beaches fringed with nikau palms and feeling like a remote Pacific Island (when the sun is shining).

All through the hills great swathes of mature native trees lay fallen like pick-up-sticks in no particular order. Other trees have had their top halves ripped off. And right beside the dead and dying, corridors of trees are the living; standing tall and green, the lucky ones, spared from nature’s powerful fury. This is the aftermath of Cyclone Ita which roared across New Zealand during Easter 2014, hitting the West Coast especially hard. We’re going to see quite a bit of devastation and windfall on our travels.

We emerge from the hills at Little Wanganui and decide to have lunch at the Little Wanganui River mouth, freedom camping is allowed along the road to the mouth but from what we saw there aren’t too many spots to park up at other than right at the mouth itself where we found a fire still burning from the last overnighters. The sea is very rough and the incoming tide pushes the waves up the river threatening to snuff the log fire out with each surge. It must be a man thing- the hunter/gatherer gene, but David adds a few more pieces of wood to the fire.

This was one of our more interesting lunchtime views; straight out onto the rolling surf, we watched as the waves crept closer and closer to the burning log but left before it was wiped out.

Two surfers were looking for a ride and swum across the mouth and out into the white water dodging a flotilla of large bobbing logs and a raft of smaller driftwood along the way.

We stayed for a couple of nights at the Karamea Domain campground, a pleasant enough spot beside the Karamea River and across the playing fields from the school. There was a lawn bowling tournament on beside the drive into the Domain. They all stopped to gawp as we squeezed by.

Karamea is certainly small, I’m not too sure what I was expecting but it wasn’t one hotel, a small garage with fuel pumps, a police station, two churches, a Four Square supermarket, a couple of tour company businesses, half a dozen accommodation houses and many dairy farms. This is really the back of beyond and I take my hat off to the people who choose to live this far away from a reasonably sized city, it would definitely be a life-style choice in my opinion. Tourism and dairy farming looked to be the mainstays that keep people out here.

We passed the local cop taking the school students through their bike riding skills on the tennis court when we left the Domain.

We did a spot of bird watching while exploring the huge estuary that the Karamea River opens into, an estuary that was formed during the 1929 Murchison earthquake when the Karamea Port was blocked off.

An Australasian Harrier Hawk keeps a lookout for dinner along a feeder stream.

David spotted a White Heron/Kotuku flying over the Domain and we were lucky enough to spot it again when we went to check out Flagstaff Beach. It was feeding on the estuary edge and no amount of stealth disguised our approach before it lifted and flew further away.

Flagstaff Beach was barren and windswept, I had heard that there are often large pieces of driftwood and tree stumps littering the sand (which would make great photo subjects) but it wasn’t to be this day. Maybe they are further north.

My little black stickman makes an re-appearance albeit with his pant legs rolled up- winter must be approaching!

Anatori - The End of the Road ; Part 2

....continuing on from Part 1

Back on the road after lunch, we’re now passing through farmland and following the coast all the way.

The views are spectacular and the road often on the edge of the seacliffs.

It's not long before I see a cluster of houses on the hill ahead of us and assume we must nearly be at Anatori and the end of the road. And in fact we are but what I don’t know is that the houses are on the other side of the Anatori River. A river you have to ford, the track carries on for a few more kilometres but a 4WD is suggested for that stretch.

We head up the last hill and pass through a beautiful grove of Nikau Palms, I can never get enough of Nikau, they are probably my most favourite NZ plant, I love their tropical look and they remind me of our old property in Tauranga where I had my own Nikau grove, 17 planted in amongst our native garden. Although mine were mostly Kermadec Nikau, they grow a lot faster.

Finally we’re heading down into the Anatori River valley where there is a small hive of activity and a little ‘tent’ city of caravans. More whitebaiters! And these ones are set up for the duration too. We can see the 4WD road heading up the other side of the hill and we’ve been pre-warned; “Don’t cross the river while they’ve got their nets out otherwise you may get abused”.

We pull up in the gravel patch and David wanders out to one of the whitebaiters to have a chat while I take a few photos. I catch up with them and the guy tells us no one has had much luck so far (but we’re fast learning the lingo & this is a standard response). Although he does say the river is very low and it certainly looks that way, not a typical west coast river that’s for sure. He tells us that he built the hut, he brings the gear in each season and knocks it up for them all to use, it has a pot belly fire inside and solar power. I can imagine Happy Hour tucked up in there would be nice and cosy. That’s his net all set up (bottom right), I like his bucket holder.

There’s a few rustic baches down at river level but it doesn’t look as though any of them have people staying.

It’s getting late in the afternoon now and while we would have liked to have crossed over the river and driven the track a short distance, we decide it’s best to head home. Our whitebaiter friend said it wouldn’t have worried him if we had crossed, he’s used to it as there are a few cars a day coming and going. He also tells us that when the tide is low the best drive is along the beach in both directions for about 10-12kms. “But don’t get caught by the tide, otherwise you’re a gonna”

So it’s back on the road again, with a short stop for me to rescue a lamb on the wrong side of the fence, man do they move fast, after running back and forward along the fenceline I finally managed to grab him when he got stuck trying to squeeze through the wire. He was pretty pleased with himself once he hit the deck bouncing and dancing across the paddock. A good deed done for the day.

And one final stop when we spotted one of the white herons resting on the old wharf at Mangarakau on the Westhaven Estuary. You can see the soft feathering of the breeding plumes at it's tail. This heron should be making it’s way south to Okarito on the West Coast, where they breed & nest, very soon.

Anatori - The End of the Road ; Part 1

Remember the three long Golden Bay roads I mentioned in a previous post?. Well, we've explored the two up the Cobb & Aorere Valleys and now we’re about to do the final one which also happens to be the longest one at 44kms. It’s also the most westerly road in South Island and probably the least travelled as there is nothing at the end of it other than a small settlement with a handful of houses. And even though we will follow the road down the west coast of the South Island, it’s still part of Golden Bay with no way through to the actual West Coast province.

It’s going to be a 116km round trip from Collingwood for us & mostly on a gravel road plus we’ll add another 20 kms to the total by taking a side road to check out the Kaihoka Lakes.

There are two small lakes in the Kaihoka Scenic Reserve and they are tucked in behind some dramatic coastal hills and bluffs, we can hear the rumble of the surf coming to us over some dunes at the top of the second lake.

A special feature of the lakes are the massed nikau palms which give the 10 minute walk between the lakes a tropical feel. The nikau also confirm we’re on the west coast now, where they are always a prominent feature.

The raft (below) was well made using mussel floats and was tethered just around a corner near the entrance to the walk, maybe the local kids use it or DOC to get to the other side of the lake. We've seen a lot of lost mussel floats on our travels; there’s a mussel farm out in the bay just north of Collingwood and they must break free on a regular basis. For some it’s finders keepers, others call the company who pay $10 for each recovered buoy.

We decide to drive to the end of Kaihoka Lakes Road as it’s skirts around the top western side of one of the largest estuaries in New Zealand, the Westhaven Estuary (Whanganui Inlet). Below is just a tiny section near Pecks Point, we’ll be following the road around the the edge of the estuary on the far side when we get back to the Anatori road.

The gravel road winds in and around the exposed mudflats for 6 of so kilometres, which, as I’ve said before, always feels like double the distance. There’s nothing much more than a farm at the end of the lakes road and they obviously get a few vehicles arriving at their farm gate as they've made a little turning bay with a helpful sign.

We head back to the Anatori road and start the journey south. It’s not long before this sign makes an appearance. Bloody hell, that’s a long way to wind!

Thankfully it’s actually an interesting winding road as it follows the estuary shoreline all the way, cutting across the many estuary ‘fingers’ over embankments and small bridges, where the mudflats reach far up into the hills and where rivers & streams enter. It comes as no surprise to see that the name of this road is Dry Road. Clouds of dust swirl behind us and I know David will be thinking about how much will be finding it’s way into the back.

This is looking across towards the Kaihoka Lakes Road, the farm gate was at about the low point in the hills, centre right.

There are a few isolated houses tucked up in the bush overlooking the estuary along the way and then, once again, we pass through a part of the Kahurangi National Park (kahu= hawk, rangi= God of the sky). At various spots we see three white herons (kotuku) feeding but they’re too far away to get any decent shots. We also pass the end of the Kaituna Track, that’s the track that started beside the Naked Possum Cafe in the Aorere Valley.

Finally I see the ocean's entrance to the estuary and we stop so I can get a shot. The NZ Post rural mail lady in her bright red car comes flying around the corner not long after and pulls to a stop to tell me it looks even better when the tide is in. Unfortunately by the time we return the sun is low and the tide has come and gone.

Up in the bush, high on the ridgeline, on the peninsula at the left side of the entrance is an exclusive luxury lodge, Westhaven Retreat. I only knew about it as the huge roof was catching the sun as we travelled past. I looked it up when we got back; a two night luxurious package in peak season; drive in, helicopter out will only set you back $4,770, and that is a discounted rate!

The estuary covers a total of 2648 hectares; 536 hectares at the southern end are a marine reserve with the remainder a Wildlife Management Reserve with limited access. The estuary is one of the least modified estuaries in New Zealand and a very important food source for wading birds and breeding ground for many fish species.

The old Mangarakau Wharf is within the marine reserve at the top end of the estuary.

We finally break free of the estuary & the winding road but not before meeting a fully laden stock truck & trailer on a tight bend in the bush. Thankfully we don’t have the 5th-wheeler on the back otherwise that would have been fun and games.

We follow alongside the Paturau River heading for the coast and passing the now familiar whitebaiters along the river banks; one in a small motorhome and two on their quad bikes. We cross over the bridge and take the indicated private road to the beach to have some lunch.

As you can see we were enjoying another fabulous sunny & mild day and it did really feel like summer as we sat on our chairs eating lunch, watching the world go by. This is a freedom camping area provided by the landowner but you must follow the rules, especially #3! A straight talking farmer with a sense of humour.

Originally we were going to bring the 5th-wheeler down to here for a few days but as it's turned out we've used Collingwood as our base and explored from there. It would be a great spot in the summer although exposed to the rough west coast weather.

Another two whitebaiters were near the river mouth, a couple, one on either side of the river (hedging their bets) with their friendly pooch patiently waiting.

To be continued....Part 2