Westport’s Wonderful Weather

Well, it was for four of the five days we stayed, the other day it was torrential rain which we were very grateful for; our vehicles needed a good wash down, they still had a salt covering from the storm that blew through when we were at Ward Beach three weeks ago. And with no water available at the NZMCA Park it was great to be able to put our collection containers out at the end of the awning and fill the water tank and our spare carry containers. This saved David at least one trip into town to fill them at the Countdown potable water tap (which is near the dump station which we couldn’t use as it was tucked into a corner).

Here’s a few more photos from our time in Westport-

In amongst the dunes beside the NZMCA Park is a freedom camping area that had at least 6-10 vehicles parked up every night; mostly hire motorhomes & sleeper vans. There’s not too many places in New Zealand where you’d be able to park overnight right on the beach like this, some visitors from overseas might think they’ve died and gone to heaven when they pull up on such a beautiful beach.

Westport’s  NZMCA North Beach Park from the beach. The tepee, I think, is courtesy of the Kiwi Experience Bus passengers; they come here for a sunset bonfire & drinks.

I took these photos especially for our friend Bluey, to show him what a good dog does when a pesky weka comes a calling. This little pooch must have a whole heap of willpower, either that or she’s too scared to move. Bluey, she is a looker, you could be in with a chance if you ever meet & can show her some restraint. When it comes to weka.

At the south end of the beach is the Buller River breakwater and the Westport Bar, a wild section of water that has claimed many lives and boats over the years. I missed getting a photo of a fishing trawler exiting the mouth as we arrived, there was a large swell and huge waves were rolling in. The boat rode over the top of them, crashing down the other side with sea spray flying in all directions. It made me feel sea-sick just looking at it. Later a very small and cute older fishing boat came up the channel, I was hoping to see it cross over so I could get some photos but it spent about half an hour going round and round in circles fishing for live bait and by the time we left it was still weaving about and the swell had subsided.

We’ve now been to the source of the Buller on Lake Rotoiti at the Nelson Lakes and to the mouth of the Buller here in Westport.

Before the tide turned and the waves settled there were a large number of surfers riding the waves on the north side of the breakwater. There was a lot of white water but a few good sized waves too. I even managed to catch a fish enjoying a wave (top right-it looks like a kahawai).

This little house was just down the road from the Park, it looks to have been part of the racecourse at some stage. A little harsh perhaps, but it’s aptly named ‘The Box’. Cute!

We visited Cape Foulwind, just south of Westport, where there’s a 2km coastal walkway between the lighthouse at the Cape and Tauranga Bay further south, where there’s a seal colony. Nearby are the Gibsons Beach sea stacks, there used to be a huge single stack further out called Giant’s Tooth but it crashed into the sea after an earthquake early last century.

We didn’t walk the track, there was a cool breeze blowing, it was getting late & we didn’t fancy retracing our steps to get back to the car afterwards. Instead we drove to the other end, to the carpark at Tauranga Bay and walked up to the seal colony.

It’s just a short walk to the lookout over the colony where a steady stream of visitors were hoping to catch sight of the seals. The last time I visited here, many years ago, there were hundreds of seals spread out over the rocks below but unfortunately today there were only a handful of pups playing in a pool while their mothers are away feeding at sea.

And if you didn’t have binoculars (like most of the visitors), or a camera with a good zoom, you would have been hard pressed to see them. This colony has nothing like the huge numbers of seals that are in the Kaikoura coast colonies.

We drove around Tauranga Bay and over to Nine Mile Beach which is a beautiful long isolated sandy beach backed by large dunes covered in marram grass. Today there was just the solitary figures of a horse & sulky rider working out before the rain arrived.

There was one last chore to do before we headed north towards Karamea. With only two public dump stations in Westport and both of them in the parking area of a supermarket we had to use New World who had the best access. Although they had no potable water so then it was across to Countdown for that.

Who in their right mind would team up a dump station with a supermarket? Not only is it a weird combination but also there's the tight maneuvering for bigger rigs inside the car park- especially on a Saturday morning.  I guess the supermarket came up with the idea, hoping we’d buy our groceries there while we dumped (and we did). In one door, out the other!

Westport- Beach Park & Tractor Trekkers

Just to let those that eagerly await my next blog post know, unfortunately cellphone & internet reception will be intermittant over the next few weeks as we travel the West Coast so there may be a few more days than usual between posts. 


The NZMCA (NZ Motorhome & Caravan Association) has over 50,000 members nationwide who are entitled to many benefits and perks including heavily discounted Cook Strait ferry crossings, discounts with a major appliance & electronics store and various other discounts elsewhere. The Association also has 27 NZMCA Parks located around the country in some stunning locations. For a very small fee ($3pp per night) members can stay in a safe & secure environment for anything from 3-7 nights per month depending on the park. Some parks have a dump station, laundry, most have rubbish recycling & fresh water. They are a Godsend for us and we always enjoy our stays.

I was a little worried as we followed the co-ordinates that I’d entered into TomTom for the Westport NZMCA Park. They led us through town and down towards the beach, onto a bumpy gravel road, past a swamp and rough scrub and out onto a sandy parking area that looked like an afterhours meeting place for the local hoons- in fact they used the wide expanse of beach at low tide to ‘hoon’ down. Freedom camping is allowed in this area and most nights there were half a dozen vehicles parked up. 

Down to the left of the sandy carpark a gravel road led to a large enclosed area with a firmly packed gravel surface and a locked gate; the NZMCA Park. What a great spot, right on the beach and only about 3kms from town.

The caretaker is obviously having a bit of trouble with visitors arriving at the park and not being able to get in even though they have the combination- I like his humour. I would have to admit though, that unless you read the sign board (and you don’t if you’re quite familiar with the routine) then you can get pretty frustrated trying to crack the code. And I would think you’d be especially peeved off if it was pouring with rain. Most combinations line up with the centre line on the padlock, not a top one (I didn’t even know they had a top line). While we were there (4 nights) at least 80% of arriving vans had trouble getting in.

But in the end it is worth the hassle, there’s not too many places where you can park up overnight so close to sea and watch the sun set below the horizon while you’re cooking dinner (or having a glass of wine).

I do think the caretaker should put up one of these signs though, 4 or 5 very friendly weka spend their day cruising around the park, resting under vans and fighting each other if someone throws out some food. Which is often.

As you can see the Park is a pretty popular place, most people using it as a base while they explore the top end of the West Coast. Those with caravans & fifth-wheelers were able to leave their vans in place while exploring each day; the motorhomes & buses had to take pot luck and find a new position when they returned each evening.

The beach was also popular with the Kiwi Experience tour bus. On our first night I heard a whole lot of chatter and laughter and when I looked out the side window a crowd of young people carrying supermarket bags of food plus wine & beer were walking along the fence line past us and over to the beach. They gathered up some driftwood and added it to a already charred fire pit, lit a bonfire and partied on for the next couple of hours. Now that’s a real “kiwi experience”. The same thing happened the next night but they were a little later and missed the sunset. The next night it was raining heavily.

It was a great surprise to find some friends from Tauranga parked up just along the fence from us. I was walking across the park and saw a couple of guys talking, as one walked off towards his motorhome I thought he looked familiar. I called out to him but he didn’t hear me and disappeared around the side of the motorhome. I was sure it was Ian so I followed him around the side calling his name. He still didn’t hear me and for a moment I thought I’d got it wrong but then he turned and saw me, and then Jess appeared at the door.

It was wonderful to see them. We had a couple of very happy ‘happy hours’ for the next two evenings and caught up on our travels, & gossip from ‘home’. It is rather strange that had I not seen Ian we could quite well have not known each of us were in the park. We often don’t see our neighbours as everyone comes and goes each night & morning.

The town of Westport is nothing to write home about, it’s your usual small provincial town (pop. 4000) with not much to offer. There’s a short main street with pretty hanging flower baskets on each side which add a bit of cheer, a number of restored historic buildings & plenty of empty shops and shops selling tacky imported junk. There are no decent clothing stores but a good number of cafes and a large i-Site that is always busy- tours leave for the coalmines & up the coast from here.

And then there is the most beautiful Municipal Chambers (former) building I have seen on our travels. It is absolutely stunning. It was built in 1946 and is coated in Motueka sand which gives it this beautiful colour- remember the sand from our time at Kaiteriteri? The Phoenix palms are the perfect accompaniment to the Art Deco style.

And what better place for a procession of tractors towing various forms of accommodation to be welcomed into the town. The convoy, 27 in all and called the Tractor Trekkers, are towing a range of pop-tops, caravans and wooden sheds around the South Island raising funds for the Westpac Chopper Appeal.

They were on their way to Karamea (at the end of the road) before returning to Southland (where they are from) via the east coast.

We passed them two days later as they were returning from Karamea, spread out like Brown’s cows along the highway. Which was just as well as some were moving along at a cow’s pace.

Sunset over Westport’s NZMCA Park.