Truman Track

The Truman Track and Punakaiki Cavern
**By Celia Walker **

A walk along the Truman Track packs a lot into a short return trip (up to 1 hour) – dense coastal rainforest, coastal vegetation and a wild, rock-strewn beach with caves and a waterfall. The wet environment might get tiresome year-round (around 3000mm rain per year), but it makes for wonderfully luxuriant plant growth. The abundant nikau and tangles of supplejack and fern give a subtropical feel, tempered by a brisk onshore breeze. This patch of forest also contains some impressive old-growth trees, including huge northern rata and rimu, a different forest setting to the mature beech found on the nearby Paparoa Trail. The name comes from a local, Jim Truman, who had the bright idea in the 1960s that the local Domain Board should build a new walkway to the beach.

West Coast descendant Alan Wylde recalls family treks to the beach in the 1950s to explore the rockpools, using a strategically placed ladder for access – ‘it was magic’. Ngati Waewae hapu of Ngai Tahu are the kaitiaki of Paparoa National Park and have traditional management rights in the area, and predator control initiatives by the Paparoa Wildlife Trust mean there can now be abundant birdsong all around this part of the West Coast.

Sadly a moment of irrational thinking in the name of ‘safety’ saw the Department of Conservation to blast away one of the track’s features in 2019, a naturally sculpted limestone overhang, after a nearby rockfall (a decision they have since stated was a mistake). This was despite the track leading to a beach constantly subject to unpredictable tides and erosion, although admittedly the supposedly out-of bounds cave under the overhang was a pretty tempting place for a photo-stop and quick rest. Locals would probably know if it was this cave or another nearby that was used as a hideaway by conscientious objectors in WWI – with the chimney hole for venting through the rock, although the shelter built across the cave mouth was long gone.

For those with troglodyte tendencies still wanting a quick cave exploration, the nearby Punakaiki Cavern is a large opening, complete with glow worms (and perhaps cave weta?) – and the most dangerous aspect is running the gauntlet of the traffic along the West Coast Road as this is directly across the road from the main Punakaiki settlement.

Image Credits: Celia Walker