westport weekend trip:
what to do and see

Coastal Erosion WCRC Granity @West Coast Regional Council

Unable to find on instagram and I am cross with myself for not photographing when there!

Granity is a must do visit stop for everyone interested in climate change. You stand on the constructed stoney embankments and watch the sea relentlessly working away at the foundations. And the nearest houses are very close. There is a notice and plaque showing where the community hall once stood. It is sobering watching the rising sea rewrite land boundaries.

Granity is home to the Granity Museum located on the site of historical coke ovens built 1909-1910. Buildings and sites belong to the Northern Buller Museum Trust. It also owns the Millerton Incline behind the Museum. Work is underway to get the Incline reinstated as a Walking Track. At Ngakawau and Granity you can do short walks to the coal bins, Watson and Mumms Mill to view coal mining abandoned relics. You cannot miss the museum as the enormous mining shovel can be viewed from the main road.

Open 1 pm – 3pm Tuesday, Thursday, Friday 1pm – 3pm Saturday & Sunday Other hours call 782 8653 and, if home someone will come down to open up.

Admission Donations welcome, the museum is managed by volunteers.

Call in at the local pub in Ngakawau for local colour. Perhaps have a bite to eat. At Ngakawau take a walk through the local campgrounds to the beach to view the rugged coast and Tasman Sea pounding the beach. You will have already visited Granity and observed the impact of climate change.

Waimangaroa and Britannia Gold Mine @Matthew

You can try your hand at gold panning. See what your fortunes bring for the day. Be prepared to be disappointed. North of Waimangaroa is O’Connor Road leading to a car park, The walking track is the original bullock track and is wide and easy to navigate. Entrance is located in the carpark. Follow signs to the gold fossicking area. Hand tools are allowed and no permit is required. The designated area is from the abandoned gold mine to the beginning of the farmland downstream. The second signposted track leads to the Republic battery site. Continuing up the valley, several tracks lead off. The first drops down to the Republic Battery site. A few scattered remnants remain here. The second side track leads quickly to an old adit, full of cave weta. The main track becomes rougher and crosses a few hillside streams before turning off the bullock track (which runs out soon anyway) and dropping to the Britannia Battery site.

Dropping through native bush is the Britannia battery. The quartz crusher battery reduces the rocks to small pebbles to assist with the dissolving of the gold in a cyanide water solution. The battery dates from 1925 built by Price of Thames whose buildings are still used for steel manufacturing. It is very impressive, an industrial piece of machinery in the middle of what is now quiet forest. The Britannia Mining Company 1896 and ceased in 1910. The area was restarted in 1925 and the 5-head stamper battery was brought to site then. There were various mines dating back to 1875 to 1937 in the area. The site has plaques describing the site’s relics which include pelton wheel and cyanide tanks.

• Length 9 km (return)
• Duration 3 hours
• Grade easy

Westport Coal Company @Martin Csontofalszki

Take the high road and explore the coal mining, now largely abandoned Millerton settlement. It has the air of a ghost town with a number of empty buildings and infrastructure. Despite its elevation of 300 m being considerably lower than that of Denniston (494 m), the grade between the coastline and Millerton still meant that the coal was difficult to get down to the railway. The Westport Coal Company built the Millerton Incline in 1891 and the Millerton Mine began production in 1896. Mining at Millerton ended in the late 1960s, similar again to Denniston.

Millerton Incline @Carolyn in Aotearoa

The Millerton Incline, 1891 was a narrow gaug bush tram econsisting of two parallel tracks on which the coal tubs ran, being hauled by rope. The incline dropped 260 metres to the coast. Remnants of tracks, trucks, bath houses and other installations are still visible. The Millerton Incline was in its day quite a feat of engineering and the remains of this incline and its infrastructure are more accessible then those of the more famous Denniston incline. The Millerton Incline was used to convey tubs of coal from the mines around the Millerton area to the Bins at Granity, which in their day were the largest coal loading bins of wooden construction in NZ. The Bins are long gone, but the incline remains and is well worth a look.

The informal information centre is in what is effectively an abandoned house, there are dusty maps and photographs, furniture thta is showing the effects of weather and time. The settlement is a snapshot of archeological ruins in the making. Nature is busy making a comeback and reclaiming houses and public areas. It is fascinating to think while there about two hotels, shops, churches, sports grounds and library now dissolving back into the bush.

Getting there

It is a narrow, steep winding road setting the scene for a visit to a part of New Zealand that has very few visitors. The road to Millerton has spectacular views across the coast and the rain forest.

Stockton Mine Tours @outwest

Perhaps you would like a tour of Stockton’s current mining operations at the nearby Cascade mine, New Zealand’s largest opencast mining operation in Stockton. Tours of Cascade are only through an authorised tour operator,

Stockton Mine Tours – Outwest Tours – Guided scenic off-road 4wd Tours, Westport, West Coast.

Departs Westport Vistor Information Centre

Duration 6 hours for the tour.

Booking Online or Vistor Information Centre, 24 hours notice necessary minimum numbers required. The tour operator can arrange private tours. Contact directly to discuss details.

Charming Creek Walkway @miss_mcdonald

Walking fans rejoice, one of New Zealand’s great walks is part of this weekend itinerary planner. Charming Creek Walkway: Charming Creek area, West Coast region all day starts in Seddonville, originally a mining settlement. The track follows an abandoned historic bush tramway to transport coal. There are remnants of saw milling where native timbers provided shoring for mines and material to construct houses. Walkers pass through railway tunnels, bridges and the 20 metre drop Mangatini waterfalls. The sheer cliffs of Nagakawau Gorge and the immense river boulders of the Nagkawau River form a dramatic burst for the final section as the track nears the seaside town of Hector.

The Seddonville carpark to Mangatini Falls is approximately a 4 hour round walking trip. Track highlights are:

• dark wet railway tunnels
• Gorge granite bluffs
• Narrow suspension bridge
• Mangatini Falls
• Old Mumms timber mill, coal mines, rusting steam boilers, brick chimney and coal miner’s huts

NOTE: there is a swing bridge which is narrow. Patience might be needed to wait for people to cross the bridge.

Charming Creek walk @justinedemim

• Length: 9.5 km one way
• Duration: 2 hr 30 min – 3 hr one way
• Grade: Easy: Walking track
• Mountain biking: Intermediate: Grade 3
• Dog access: Dogs allowed on leash
• Torch: For dark tunnels.

Charming Creek walk: Getting there

This track can be walked in either direction, follow SH67 from Westport for the starting points. South end: Follow the signposts at Ngakawau. North end: From Seddonville follow Charming Creek Road to the abandoned mine site. Seddonville is the more popular start as you are walking downhill.

NOTE: You will need to arrange transport to collect you unless you intend to return on the same track.

Need to know:

• Drinking from the streams is not advisable due to the high mineral content.
• For your own safety keep away from old mine tunnels and shafts.
• This is a shared-use mountain bike trail.

Shortened walk to Mangantini Waterfalls

Wanting to view the Mangantini waterfalls and get a glimpse of the Charming Creek walk yet short on time here is an alternative route.  For a shorter option start at the Hector end and hike for about one hour to Mangatini Falls.

• Length: 6 km (round trip)
• Duration: 2 -3 hours

Overnight Westport accommodation. This is your final night in Westport. If you have time, Westport has a number of art galleries and the main street is worth a wander to check out the art deco architecture.

Westport Palmerston St, main street of town

Cape Foulwind to Inangahua, Reefton and Christchurch.

NOTE: Inangahua is the junction between the route to Nelson or continue on State Highway 7 to Christchurch. State Highway is crossing the Southern Alps at the Lewis Pass. 359 km 5 hours.

Reefton is a whistle stop opportunity to check out the town with its own gold mining past. The town of light where electricity was first town with a public supply of electricity. Reefton is nestled in the paparoa and Victoria ranges. Inland, the town’s destiny was shaped by the Paparoa and Victoria ranges. The untamed Inangahua River and Victoria Conservation Park provide ample opportunities for mountain bike exploration and tramping among the historic gold mining sites. There are numerous heritage sites both within and in the vicinity of Reefton. A favourite place to visit and part of the extended West Coast awesome itinerary.

Oparara Basin Arches @4foottravellers

This weekend break has not included Karamea, Greymouth, Hokitika or Glacier territory. To fully immerse yourself in what the West Coast 14 days will give you a taste of what the region has to offer. There is the jade or pounamu trail, gold trails, the birth of the unionist political movements in Ross and elsewhere, accessible glaciers to marvel at and the west coast spirit to revel in. Punakaiki, Pancake Rocks and kayaking the Pororari River are scenery highlights threaded together on perhaps New Zealand’s prettiest scenic drives between mountains, sea and wild rivers.

The West Coast offers adventure tourism with Buller River white water rafting, caving at Charleston and tramping trails, the thundering surf of the west coasts beaches to challenge. All of these sensory experiences will be on your bucket list.

Buller River rafting @ultimatedescents.nz