Westcoast Wilderness Trail March 2024

In February 2024 Kay and I walked the Westcoast Wilderness Trail. Kay has turned 70 so is on a mission to complete as many damn long walks as she can before she drops off her perch, or the perch becomes too wobbly. I am doing the same. We have walked together a number of times now: Te Araroa NOBO, Stewart Island, Nepal and few other smaller trips. We walk at about the same pace and have similar philosophies about our travels so it works well.

Kay had been on a few walks in the South Island, New Zealand for a month before I caught up with her so I was again reminded that pushing kids on swings and short sprints after a runaway toddlers doesn’t do much for my fitness. However the WWT is actually a cycle trail so is not very steep or rugged. Usually people take 3 – 4 days to cycle the 120km but we took 7 days to walk it. We met about 50 cyclists a day and they were all surprised to see us walking along with our packs on our backs. Most of them only had little day bags with them as their luggage was delivered from accommodation to accommodation each day. We were the tough old ladies walking the trail and we were proud of it.

Being an old gold mining area we walked along early bush tram lines and water races passing former goldmining towns and workings, historic bridges and much more. It was all off road on a well maintained gravel track. It was quite luxurious really compared to some of our other walks. We alongside some glacial lakes and long canals, rugged beaches, through ancient forests and wetlands without even getting our feet wet.

The cyclists stay in the small towns that have been revived by the trail. Once thriving mining towns with 40-50 pubs with a 100 rooms each these little towns had nearly died off before the government put a lot of money into developing cycle trails. It has worked well, especially with the advent of e-bikes. With one of those nifty things any size bottom can get out there and ride. They bring their little dogs in baskets and dollars to spend along the way. We, on the other hand, slept in the rest stop shelters along the way and pitched our tents a couple of times. We did treat ourselves to a room behind the Ross pub on our last day. The owner made sure we got the best room. We were not sure what the worst room would have looked like, but we are both easily pleased.

We had planned to stay at the Cowboys Paradise on out 3rd night as a treat. We had read some very bad reviews about the place, the owner being quite mad and unreasonable. Being a couple of adventurous ladies we were intrgued by the bad reviews and wanted to meet this notoriously difficult man. He sounded a real character. First we found out that he charged about $200 a night which was way above our budgets but then that he was temporarily closed as he was appearing in court that week on drug cultivations charges. We were also given strict instructions to walk quickly through the property and not to stop at all. The trail goes right through his little town, that has shooting ranges and a nice old country bar. So we were disappointed to miss out. No wonder the guy was a bit paranoid as he had a 240sqm underground bunker full of cannabis plants. See article below

cowboy-paradise-drug-bunker-busted-after-covert-police-operation

After surviving our walk through Cowboys Paradise we only had about 2 km to walk to the next rest area. It was at the end of the road and was parking place for those who do day rides on the trail. That was to be our home for the night after a 25km day. However there was a big sign saying NO CAMPING and there was a very angry dog in a parked van. So that was definitely not to be our home for the night. The next campsite was about 10km along a gravel road and it was 4.30 in the afternoon. But we had no choice but to walk on. We were both out of water and it was 2km before we could access a small river to fill our bottles. We were scanning the roadside for somewhere to camp but the fields were quite open and filled with prickly blackberry bushes. These do not go well with expensive inflatable mattresses.

Eventually a car came along and we flagged it down. Unfortunately it was filled with 5 burly hunters and their gear so no ride for us. So we plodded on. What else could we do? Sit and cry that it wasn’t fair and we were tired and our feet were sore and we needed our dinner!! The adventure begins when the plan fails!

Eventually a car comes along heading in the opposite direction to us, so we don’t get our hopes up for a ride. But it was the hunters! They had felt sorry for us so had driven on to their accommodation, dropped off 3 guys and their gear and returned to pick us up. We offered the two blokes big kisses but they declined as they threw our packs in the back, commenting how they light they were compared to their 20kg packs . Kay and I try to keep our packs less than 10kg, even with a week of food onboard.

They dropped us at the entrance to the Kainere Water Race Walkway so we only had a nice wee wander through the bush to a nice campsite at Milltown, the site of an old sawmill. It was a lovely walk alongside the moss covered bush. Apparently a famer lived along the raceway and he would send bottles of milk along the raceway to his customers down the way.

We had great weather, not too hot and not too cold, no rain or wind. This is very unusual for the West Coast so were were very lucky. We met some interesting people although usually only for short chats as they cycled on by. There was a nice couple form New Plymouth, who were cycling the trail in sections as they had their campervan with them. So they would ride out halfway along a section with their little dog in a basket. After a lunch stop they would cycle back then drive on the the next road end to do the same thing again the next day. So we met them every day and had a good old chat. All in all , a very good little walk. I am finding it hard to call anything a damn long walk after walking 3,000km of Te Araroa. But I know that many people think a walk around the block is damn long walk so I will keep with the title.