Words | Robin Pieper
Punakaiki – a destination or stop-in north of Greymouth along the coast highway. Best known for it’s pancake rocks, wild seas and souvenir shops, the locals (and those others in the know) see it as a wild outdoor gem and the home of one of NZ’s most grass roots festival – Taiko, Return of the Westland Petrel Festival.
Starting in 2014, the Taiko festival has been a major event on Punakaiki’s calendar. This phenomenal stretch of coastline hosts the breeding ground for the endemic Westland Petrel (Taiko), and every autumn the birds return from their OE off the coast of South America, to start a family on New Zealand’s wild West Coast, nestled into the Paparoa range. Meanwhile, us humans see it as the perfect opportunity to celebrate not only the Taiko, but conservation, nature, music and friendships.
Ready for the big pedal. Photo cred: Jason Blair
Until very recently, the only access to Punakaiki was through the north-south coastal highway, well… there was a third way. The Paparoa range may not be NZ’s biggest and showiest mountain range, but this coastal set of hills packed a huge amount of punch for those chose to adventure through this route. Tales of the Paparoa range include dense West Coast bush, steep bluffs, secret waterfalls, canyons and incredible ridges, and fully epic 360 views of the coast, right over the Southern Alps to the Southern beauties of Aoraki and Tasman (if you get it on a good day). It’s been filling the adventure cup of hardened West Coast outdoor folk for decades. More recently though, it caught the attention of some creative and dedicated trail entrepreneurs, and the Paparoa Great Ride/Walk was opened last year. This circles me back to the access routes into Punakaiki… along the coastal highway – or over the Paparoa range from Blackball?
The early morning view from Smoke-Ho car park
Friends Jase and Brittany live in Dobson, only a short drive from the Blackball end of the Paparoa. Jase has a habit of being an incredibly competent outdoorsman, but perhaps a little less so at life’s general activities. I don’t know if I’ll ever live down the world’s most casual bike ride through Greymouth, which resulted in a premature meeting of Brittany at her place of work… Greymouth Hospital with a broken collarbone. Somewhat coincidently, this latest visit co-incided with another household injury keeping Jase out of the hills, which meant instead of accompanying me he would be doing my shuttling and dog sitting. What a guy!
This would technically be my third visit to the Paparoa track, but my first doing in the full intended direction, with a dedicated optimal forecast of clear skies and no wind. Today might even be the day my rain jacket stays in my bag while on the West Coast! What an opportunity.
Clifford the big red dog (bike) admires the balcony smoko spot.
With some low lying fog settling in the Grey Valley/Blackball side, I even had the added bonus of climbing the Croesus section through ribbons of fog and patterns of dew on ferns and spiderwebs. Breaking through the treeline just before Ces Clark Hut was worth every second of the past 1.5 hours climb, with incredible views of the whole gradient of tussocks, forest, valley and the Southern Alps. It was a sign of good things to come.
So good you get it twice – first view out of the treeline
From Ces Clark on the gradient eases somewhat as the trail winds over the tops towards Moonlight Tops hut. I have to commend the trail builders on this – its makes multitasking of admiring the view while pushing the pedals much easier.
The view up here is so good, you have to stop and check it out.
The things that makes the Paparoa stand out to me is the ecology gradient that we travel through, beginning with West Coast podocarp, through the Dr Suess belt, and onto the tussock tops. Past Moonlight Tops, over into the Goblin forest of stunted alpine forest growth, and through the mineral belt over the escarpment. Dropping over the other side, down the rocky bluffs and back into the forest, following a ridge that’s *mostly* downhill to Pororari Hut. On today’s cloudless day, the full spectrum and views were able to be vastly appreciated, and made for pleasant travel. Km’s roll on by at surprising pace down the western side of the track, with the notable exception of the last 1km to any hut – signposted by a little 1km marker. There something about being reminded of 1km that makes it seem infinitely longer than the last 10km covered, and uphill in both directions?
Downhill from Pororari is one of those freedom inducing swoopy downhills, and before you know it you’re staring at the clear water of a swimming hole that is just impossible to pass by.
And let’s not forget the world’s biggest hill* juuust when we’re almost there at about the km 54 mark.
*Hill actually only takes 20min max, and is a very agreeable gradient. Plus we get another sweet downhill down the other side and guaranteed to finish the trail smiling. Grinners are winners.
There’s something magical and connecting about arriving somewhere under your own steam, and even more so through a track and location like the Paparoa. I was the first of our festival crew to arrive in Punakaiki, and so the responsibility of collecting the key for the Airbnb fell onto my shoulders. The poor camp lady nearly fell out of her tree to hear I had biked here when I couldn’t exactly respond to the question ‘what’s your vehicle plate’? Followed by a horrified ‘but how will you get there – its 2km up the road!?’. ….Well, what’s another 2km on the existing 57km?
The beauty of the wild west coast.
Our coastal crib for the weekend had all we could ask for – beach views, nestled amongst the Nikau palms, and a great shower and clean beds. Time to change gear and exchange the bike for party shirts. Even the weather was sensing it and ramped up the pace, with a ‘classic West Coast’ forecast anticipated for the next couple of days.
The rain punctually arrived as we were leaving the house, with our party shirts already tucked under rainwear, and wouldn’t resurface again, but mum has always told me its what’s on the inside that counts right? We started our groove to ‘Not just Jazz’ from Greymouth (worth it), to warm up for the main event. Wind and rain hosed down around us, the bonfire was roaring and Tiki Taane and P Digsss kept the music pumping through our veins. Quintessentially Taiko, and quintessentially West Coast.
Not just Jazz getting us warmed up. Photo cred: Jason Blair
With the weather showing no signs of running out off puff Sunday morning, I was quite content to choose the highway road south from Punakaiki, rather than a reverse Paparoa (Although it was briefly entertained). All in all, a perfect series of activities packed into one weekend. Here’s hoping our good vibes give the Taiko an extra great breeding season and we can come back for many years to come.
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