The small picturesque town of Punakaik is located on the South Island’s West Coast in New Zealand. It is ideally tucked between Greymouth and Westport. From here, the famous Paparoa National Park is easily accessible. Tourists love to visit this small community during autumn, because it is the best time for leisure walks. Many adventure enthusiasts find kayaking opportunities around this time quite tempting. Summer is another peak season in terms of tourism. Taking full advantage of the warm weather, leisure tourists spend most of their time on its serene beach.
Spring and winter are the other pre-dominant seasons in Punakaiki. Tourists can make most of these not-so-popular traveling seasons by being equipped with necessary gear. But, no matter when do you plan to be here, you can always go out and explore some of the popular Punakaiki attractions discussed below.
Extended over 30,000 ha of enchanting landscape characterized by lush rainforest, mountain peaks, coastline and beaches, the park is covered with limestone in most part. You can click some interesting snaps of the charming mountain ridges, ravines and caves. However, the pancake-shaped coasts are most likely to catch your fancy, as they are among the main highlight of this park.
While exploring this park, you will get to see a number of cool climate and subtropical trees. In the lowland rainforest area, Nikau palms and cabbage trees can be seen, while in the silver beech forest, sub alpine shrubs grow in plenty. Little up from here, you will get to see gentians and daisies in addition to other mesmerizing varieties.
Further, Paparoa National Park in Punakaiki is a home to diverse avian species including the native Westland Black Petrel and Kiwi. You are sure to enjoy here your bird-watching experience also.
Apart from sightseeing, Punakaiki is a wonderful place for adventure and fun-filled activities. You can hire a kayak or canoe to explore the Paparoa National Park cruising across Pororari River. Nature tours and green kiwi trips are the other leisure activities you will enjoy to the full. You can opt for horse trekking to Punakaiki valley or visit Barrytown for knife-making too.
