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Published: August 23rd 2007
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After a bit of shopping we left Westport and took the coast road, in fact the only road) south. New Zealand’s south island basically has a ridge of hills and mountains that track down the West Coast leaving a narrow strip of land between them and the coast. For those that have no idea, the south island is much quieter and less populated than the north and a million miles from the city hassles of places like Auckland. Furthermore the ‘West Coasters’ are often regarded as a little ‘different’ by South Islanders, somewhat detached from the rest of the world and about 20 years behind everyone else. For many, those attributes are the attractions of the area and as I biked down an almost deserted road on a crystal clear winter’s day in ’97, with my panniers full of everything I needed, the verdant sub-tropical forest coming down from high up on my left and waves crashing onto the beaches on my right and leaving a stunning mist hanging in the air, I couldn’t think of anywhere I would rather be.
The geography of the country explains why we had made a mad dash for the coast this time whilst
the weather was good. The Southern Ocean can throw some pretty heavy weather systems at the west of NZ, which drop a huge amount of rain as they hit the Southern Alps. On the contrary you can be lucky and get some of the most beautiful days you can imagine - it’s just a matter of timing! After biking the North Island I was about 6 weeks into my previous NZ trip when I hit the West Coast and headed south having agreed to meet up with a friend at a highly recommended hostel at a place called Punakaiki. Little did I know that as I rolled up to a wooden house in the bush that afternoon, I would still be there 6 weeks later! So, the hostel ‘Te Nikau’ lying a few km’s north of Punakaiki itself and named after the plentiful Nikau palm trees, holds a very special place in my heart and I was strangely nervous about returning unannounced after 10 years.
As we drove in it was obvious to me that things had moved on somewhat and the operation had been scaled up from the one house and a few other outbuildings that offered cheaper
accommodation when I was here before. All the same, the charm of the wooden buildings nestling amongst the bush was still there and as a familiar face appeared from the office I felt a sense of relief and that it wasn’t a stupid idea coming back.. The then part-owner Hamish (yes, Scottish ancestry) hadn’t been around much last time, but I had stayed with him and his family further south at Motukiekie Rocks so knew him well enough and he ushered us in for tea, wanting to know all about our travels and what we had been doing. He now owned the whole place, having bought out Don who had been managing the place during my last visit and had continued the expansion that started around that time.
Back then I had stayed for a couple of days before disappearing off for a couple of weeks with a girl called Sarah, hitching to, walking and hitching back from the Heaphy Track up in the northwest. After our adventure we returned to Te Nikau, I said goodbye to Sarah and hung around for a while enjoying the fresh baked muffins, beach and beautiful sunsets, with no real direction to my
travels. Now, I mentioned earlier an organisation called WWOOF’ing (Willing Workers On Organic Farms), which has basically compiled a book of places around the country who in exchange for a few hours work a day will feed, house and offer the opportunity for a ‘cultural exchange’, i.e. meeting the locals! There is an organic side to organisation, but the degree of commitment to this together with the practices of permaculture, conservation and environmental living, varies significantly between places. Whatever else it offers, it is a great way to get involved with the real community whilst travelling and saves loads of money! Anyway, Te Nikau was in the WWOOF’ing book and after a few days I asked if they needed any help and Don said ‘yep Geoff’ or should I say ‘yip Jif’ (NZ accent) straight away. I started off fixing doors, odd electrical bits and pieces and helping with the challenge of cooking bread and muffins in the wood-burning Aga, but as Don became more confident in my abilities I got involved in larger projects to do with the empty house that they had just bought close to the main Te Nikau hostel. Soon I was running telephone lines through
the bush to the new place, fixing up the plumbing and the main task, cutting a walking track through the bush to join the two houses together.
By the time I left I’d hacked a twisty 20m track through the undergrowth, gravelled it and made arches at either end from the local creeping tree vines. My final parting gesture was to illuminate the track using recycled materials that I scrounged from around the place and the bins in town...I know, I have no pride! The bins provide a good supply of 3 litre squash bottles that together with bicycle inner tube and some light fittings made great weatherproof lampshades. The night before I left there was a ‘switching-on’ ceremony, complete with music and I felt I had thoroughly left my mark on the place. Apparently the lighting system survived the rigours of West coast weather for about 5 or 6 years, until Hamish decided that he was getting electrocuted too often and was going to have to replace it!!
So, whilst trying not to reminisce too much I hope I have given you some idea of how ‘attached’ I felt to the place. However, talking of reminiscing I
must just mention one other thing that I did at Te Nikau... As there was no TV, the evenings were spent chatting with guests passing through, playing cards and listening to old LP’s on the record player (younger readers please ask for an explanation here). The rest of my spare time I spent carving the following saying into a piece of wood with some attempts at Maori design to surround it.
“Longing for the future and nostalgia for the past are the two great enemies of a rewarding life”
The quote was originally by Desmond Morris I think, but whoever, the carving still hangs in Te Nikau now and it seemed rather ironic that I was back there reminiscing with nostalgia definitely taking a grip!
Back to our current visit, Hamish made us feel very welcome and fed us well (actually the current WWOOF’ers did). We paid several visits to the beach about 5 mins through the bush, as well as the local blow holes, amazing rock formations and caves hidden behind thickets of flax and Nikau palms. We also watched the sunset as the birds skimmed over the rollers from beneath my favourite old haunt, a wavecut overhang
that hid you from view and kept off the rain. Despite being there as a guest this time, I couldn’t help myself and ended up fixing a couple of things and clearing the gutters on the old garage, now the luxurious staff accommodation known as ‘The Pad’. Hamish also insisted that we should talk to Don and got him on the phone from Christchurch and before we knew it we were planning a visit to see him in a month or so.
I think Lexa fell in love with the place as much as I did and by way of a thank you for our stay she made a huge caramel slice to compliment our last evening, which went down a storm.
It was sad to be leaving Te Nikau again, after all it had been a large factor in my consideration of emigrating to NZ after my last trip. Despite this
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beryl
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photos
Amazing photos with great angle uve shot from. Brilliant.