Accommodation
Paparoa Track accommodation will be in the form of public Department of Conservation (DOC) huts, which offer a unique and approachable way to explore the backcountry.
Ces Clark Hut (16 bunk)
Ces Clarke Hut was built back in 1986 when the Croesus Track, a historic gold mining track was cleared for recreational use. The hut is named after Blackball resident and Forest Service ranger Ces Clark who led the team which re-opened the track.
Now spruced up as part of the Paparoa Track Great Walk, with a large new deck, an interior sink, and gas burners installed. Ces Clark hut is set just above the bush edge, offering commanding views of the Southern Alps and down the Grey River Valley.
Moonlight Tops Hut (20 bunk)
The newly built Moonlight Tops Hut provides spectacular views across the Punakaiki River headwaters to the Pike Stream escarpment, out to the Tasman Sea and north across the Paparoa National Park.
The hut boasts double glazing, heavy insulation, large picture windows, a wood fireplace, composting toilet, LED lighting, USB device charging capabilities and two large bedrooms.
Pororari Hut (20 bunk)
Perched high above the ancient native bush, Pororari Hut boasts stunning 360-degree views including the Lone Hand and out to the Tasman sea. Down the Pororari Gorge, the final day of our adventure has immense limestone cliffs, podocarp forests and an abundance of nikau palms.
The hut boasts double glazing, heavy insulation, large picture windows, a wood fireplace, composting toilet, LED lighting and USB device charging capabilities.
Geography
Virgin temperate rainforests, tussock mountaintops, pristine rivers, immense limestone cliffs, and crashing oceans. If you seek big country, new wilderness frontiers and untamed trails, choosing a tour with Paparoa Guided Walks is for you.
The Paparoa Range
The Paparoa Range is a mountain range in the West Coast region of New Zealand's/Aotearoa’s South Island of outstanding natural beauty. It is located along the coast between the Buller and Grey Rivers, with the Inangahua River to the east. Paparoa National Park was established in 1987 and encompasses some 430 km2
More than half the park is best described as mountainous, from the eastern edge of the syncline to the crest of the main range. On their eastern side, an assortment of hanging valleys, truncated spurs, towering bluffs and cirques overlook deep glaciated valleys running north and south.
The predominant ancient granite and gneiss rocks of the Paparoa mountains are a close geological resemblance to those in Fiordland than to the main range of the Southern Alps.
This is because in fact 25 million years ago the Paparoa Range was part of Fiordland, before splitting away and being carried by the Alpine Fault almost 450 km to the north creating a unique geological cocktail of sedimentary, metamorphic and igneous rock, with gold, coal, even uranium, thrown in for good measure.
There is an added twist, a literal twist, in the form of the Paparoa syncline, a down-warping of the Earth’s crust to form a trough-like structure that buried much of the region’s lime-stone, preserving it from erosion.
It is this limestone, both in the form of the crowd-pleasing pancake rocks at Dolomite Point and the less well known Inland Karst, that is the geological signature of the Paparoas.
Rivers flowing from the Paparoa Ranges pass through the limestone syncline, creating subterranean waterways and extensive cave systems that are one of the many geological features found within the National Park.
Flora & Fauna
Maori travelers knew Punakaiki as a place for feasting (Punakaiki means 'a spring of food').
Flora
Paparoa National Park is the overlapping point between subtropical and cool climate trees. Nikau palms, northern rata and cabbage trees give the lowland rainforest a lush, Pacific feeling. Further up, silver beech forest merges with sub alpine shrubs.
A rich diversity of alpine plants can be found along the tops of these mountainous ranges also, including tussocks and vegetable sheep, a type of cushion plant with an unusual shape to help to store water.
Higher still, daisies and gentians provide colour among the alpine tussocks. Some plants are unique to the area, suggesting that it was a botanic refuge during the ice ages
Fauna
Native bird habitats within the park range from on or near the coastline to the peak of the Paparoa Ranges. Several common species such as Tui, Bellbird, Kaka, Kererū and Kakariki migrate from winter habitat in the lower forests to summer habitat in the upland forests.
Rarer species in the national park include the Roroa/Great Spotted Kiwi, the largest of the Kiwi species. It commonly lives in the northern South Island and can often be heard calling around the three huts on the Paparoa Track.
Another rare bird sometimes found in the park in the Whio/Blue Duck. Whio inhabit the forested upper catchments of clean, fast-flowing streams including Blackball Creek.
Paparoa National park is also home to Powelliphanta, a species of native carnivorous snail. Because of predation and habitat loss, these unique animals are quite rare.
History
Walking the footsteps of those who have gone before.
Māori
The Paparoa is on the lands of Ngati Waewae, Ngati Waewae are the original local guide to The Paparoa Track. They would traverse the mountain passes and dense bush in search of Pounamu (Greenstone).
Pounamu is an exceptionally hard stone forged in the heat of the tectonic plates beneath the Southern Alps.
The West Coast is considered the spiritual home of Pounamu and still holds particular significance to Māori with many skilled carvers still on the West Coast today.
It was used to whittle tools and weapons, which were passed down through the generations and their crafts can be found in local galleries around the West Coast.
Gold Mining
Gold discoveries had sparked a rush in the Paparoa foothills from 1864, leading to the formation of Blackball township. Most of the gold needed extracting from quartz reefs—a process that required ore-crushing capability and significant capital.
After finding a reef in the mountains above Blackball in 1896, the Croesus Gold Mining Company attracted capital from investors that it would soon disappoint. In 1901, the Garden Gully Company took over, moving a large stamper battery into the range in 1904.
The once-quiet valley began to resound with the blows of the metal ‘stamps’ pounding quartz for all the daylight hours on offer. Once more, not enough gold was extracted, and the company folded two years later.
The Croesus Track fell into disuse and was all but forgotten.
In the 1970s, Blackball resident and Forest Service ranger Ces Clark led a team to re-open the track. Clark later died while working on it, and a hut was built in his honour. It’s set just above the bush edge, offering commanding views of the Southern Alps.
Coal Mining
The Europeans came to the West Coast in search of gold and coal. Many fortunes were gained and lost in the unforgiving landscape.
The Paparoa Coal Co. was formed in 1905, involving the construction of two miles of standard gauge centre-rail railways, 50 chains of endless-rope incline haulage and two significant tunnels.
Operating costs were high, with the company going into liquidation in 1915. Mining continued on a small scale throughout the 1900s, with Blackball becoming an influential town in the establishment of workers rights, and was the epicentre of a number of initiatives including the founding trade unions, and ultimately the formation of New Zealand’s Labour Party.
Paparoa National Park
In 1976, the Federated Mountain Clubs had outlined an area in the northern part of the Paparoa ranges as a possible wilderness area.
By 1979, the Native Forest Action Council put forward a proposal for 130,000ha national park, which included the northern Paparoa Ranges and the land to the north and east of this.
This eventually led to the National Parks and Reserves Authority identifying the western Paparoa Range as a prospective National Park.
The initial proposal for a large 130,000ha was rejected, but after seven rounds of submissions, and help from other environmental groups including the Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society an agreement was made.
Although significantly smaller than the proposed area, this was still considered a major win for the environment, and an area of 30,327 hectares was gazetted as Paparoa National Park on 23 November 1987.
A Living Monument
The Paparoa Track is a living monument to the 29 men who tragically lost their lives in The Pike River Mine on the 19th of November, 2010.
The families vision was to create The Paparoa Track as a thank you to the people of the West Coast, wider New Zealand and the world for the incredible and generous support they received during this time.