Okarito

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This tiny settlement, the home of 'The Bone People' author, Keri Hulme, is for many people a special place. Photographers love it in all weathers, as it's wonders can't be photographed anywhere else.

Other artists live here and like Hulme, they have actively sought the seculsion of an isolated community therefore have very little or no desire for unexpected visitors at their properties. There is no shop so if you are visiting it is wise to take the supplies you need.

There is a venue named "Donovans store" where locals and the occasional guest gather for meetings or music.

The true story of a goldmine era riot in Okarito is retold in "Hunt's Duffer" a 1970s drama hosted at NZ on Screen.

Tucked away at the end of a winding forest-lined road that leaves the main highway down in the middle reaches of the South Island’s West Coast, Okarito is a tiny settlement that still works the way the rest of the world used to.

There are no shops or cafes, no ATMs, no video outlets or email stations. There’s nowhere to buy petrol or even a stamp, but there is nature at its raw best, and lots of it. The village sits around the southern edge of the Okarito Lagoon – a large saltwater estuary bounded by dense native forest and backed by the snow-capped Southern Alps.

The sea enters the lagoon over a shallow, ever-changing sandbar that dissects the long curved west coast beach. Kahikatea trees dripping with lacy lichens droop over the shallows and their reflections lie dark and still on the quiet water. In the distance the roar of the surf out on the coast breaks the tranquillity of this otherwise silent place. But Okarito is not just nature. It is home to a few dozen permanent residents, one being acclaimed writer Keri Hulme, who lives in her octagonal retreat down near the beach.

The old one-roomed school has been transformed in to what must be the country’s smallest YHA hostel, there’s a small motel, and a rough, rutted grass airstrip running parallel to the beach – Okarito Airport. Running into the hills from the far end of the wild, sweeping beach is a large wilderness area known for its kiwi habitat. A wander along the tracks in the late evening will sometimes be rewarded with the unforgettable call of this nocturnal bird. Kotuku But the bird that Okarito is most well known for is the white heron, or kotuku.

With their only known New Zealand breeding site on the Waitangitaona River, just to the north, these elegant white birds are often seen around the lagoon. Standing as still as their reflections they fish quietly, unfazed by the odd kayak or dinghy that may pass by. Kayaks can be hired from the village, and an excellent bird-watching tour leaves from Whataroa, further north along the main road, to visit the kotuku nesting area in the Waitangi Roto Nature Reserve. This is best done between October and March.

For all its remoteness, though, Okarito feels like the centre of the universe. What it lacks in commerce and trade it more than makes up for in sombre, unbridled wilderness. It leaves nothing to the imagination.

© Sue Farley 2005

Image Credit: Tournasol7 and Bernard Spragg, and Jesse Palmer from United States of America