Features

Fox Glacier/Te Moeka o Tuawe from
Mount Fox

Natural features

Split by the Alpine Fault, Westland Tai Poutini National Park is a place of dramatic contrasts. To the east of the fault mountains rise suddenly, and steep forested slopes are cut deeply with impassable gorges. High above, permanent snowfields feed a myriad of glaciers, including Fox Glacier/Te Moeka o Tuawe and Franz Josef Glacier/Kā Roimata o Hine Hukatere, which descend right down to the lowlands. Dense rainforest covers the lowlands west of the fault. Nearer the coast, there are scenic lakes, wetlands and wide river mouths.

Wading birds and other water-loving creatures thrive in the wetlands around the coast. The threatened kāmana/crested grebe, can be found on Lake Māpōurika, and Ōkārito Lagoon is famous for the stunning kōtuku/white heron. In the heart of lowland forest lives the only population of the endangered rowi - New Zealand's rarest kiwi. Kea are common throughout the park, and the forest is alive with birdlife.

Early exploration

Early Maori settlements clung to the shores of Westland's lakes and lagoons, where food was plentiful. However, in their travels up and down the coast, in search of Pounamu (greenstone), the Ngāi Tahu people also become familiar with the glaciers, peaks and forests of this area.

Gold in the hills and on the beaches

Guided tour group on the Franz Josef
Glacier/Kā Roimata o Hine Hukatere,
in the 1940s

Gold brought thousands to the region - within the space of one year over 1864-65 at least 16,000 miners came to the rain-soaked wilderness to line their pockets with glittering gold. The first prospectors to venture into the region of the Park followed the rivers close to the inland ranges, but in the spring of 1865 they discovered a new gold rush on the previously unexploited black beach sands. Townships sprung up from the wilderness but the heights of the gold rush didn't last long though and just 18 months after their incredibly rapid emergence, Ōkārito, Five Mile and Gillespies were virtual ghost towns.

Visiting the glaciers

When European surveyors and explorers spread word of the stunning attractions in the west, visitors overcame difficult access to see these things for themselves. By the start of the 1900s, so many tourists were visiting the glaciers that the Government began making annual grants to hoteliers for tracks and huts. The Graham family became the backbone of early tourism. Brothers Peter and Alec were outstanding guides, leading parties up onto the ice and into the mountains. Under the expert care of the guides, hundreds of pioneer tourists experienced the thrill of walking on the glaciers, as well as further afield into the high mountains.

Formation of the National Park

Southern Alps/Kā Tiritiri o te Moana
and the South Ōkārito Forest from
the Ōkārito Trig

Suggestions that the snowfields and glaciers of the region should be added to Aoraki/Mount Cook National Park united West Coast support for a national park in Westland. Representations were favourably received by the Government and as a prelude to the Westland provincial celebrations, the Executive Council met at Greymouth and proclaimed Westland National Park by Order in Council on 29 March 1960.

During the 1970's the focus of conservation shifted to the lowland forests of the West Coast, and the southern part of Ōkārito State Forest and Waikukupa State Forest were added to the park in early 1982.

The park was further extended in 1983 to incorporate the complete catchment of the Upper Karangarua Valley, thus establishing more natural boundaries and securing an area with distinctive ecological and scenic values. Further additions were made to the park in 2002 (North Ōkārito and Saltwater State Forests) and 2010.

back to top