New Zealand's west coast of the South Island, a sparsely populated area is known as Westland, and apart from being comprised of magnificent mountains with their feet nearly in the sea in places and luxurious sub tropical forest, has a narrow strip of comparatively flat land about 30 Km wide stretching from Greymouth in the north to the Haast river in the south and 160 Km of this is Westland National Park. Encompassing this and three other National Parks adjoining South Westland, the area has been awarded the prestigious UNESCO World Heritage Park status.
Two-thirds of this World Heritage Park is covered with forest - beech and podocarps - some of which are over 800 years old. There are dense stands of rimu, kahikatea, matai and tree ferns. Clematis blossom and the scarlet [southern] rata add further beauty to the almost unbelievable variation in shades of green. Nikau palms are also evident in the northern areas, but what jostles for attention are the numerous swamplands and mirror like lakes which reflect the very nearby alpine peaks - some are so close it can seem like they tower overhead, while others are the perfect photogenic distance away. There are also many reserves and beaches of a wild nature amongst the picturesque farmlands on the river flats [cattle/deer].
There are 12 major rivers that dissect the 30 Km wide strip the main road follows south and most of these have glaciers at their heads, and often only a matter of Km's away. Noteworthy are the very fast flowing Franz Josef and Fox Glaciers. Both have accommodation/towns nearby and relatively easy public walking tourist access to the ice which can be viewed in the context of their terminal faces being in the bush and forest - they travel so fast at several years from their 3000 metre sources to near sea level all within about 30 Kms, that the ice reaches the bush before melting. Only a hundred or two years ago, they were advancing and pushing over trees.
With such prolific glaciers and sub tropical rain forest it follows that the area has a high rainfall at times, however seasons like autumn and winter see an increase in long periods of settled fine weather and in winter especially it is very pleasant.
Birds abound: morepork [owl], ruru, NZ falcon, wood pigeon, kaka, parakeet, tui, kiwi, bellbird, brown creeper, silver eye, grey warbler, robin, fantail, riflemen, long tailed and shining cuckoo, and white herons to name but a few of the more common.
All of South Westland has a strong tourism flavour and can take up to 3-4 days to explore in detail, or longer if the walks [some overnight] that abound are taken up.
