Ship Creek

Ship Creek is a roadside stop in the South West New Zealand World Heritage Area with two short loops that show two entirely different things. The Kahikatea Swamp Forest Walk is a boardwalk of about twenty minutes into a stand of kahikatea growing in standing water around Lake Kahikatea, a dune lake - a forest type that was once widespread on flat wet ground and has been almost entirely drained for farmland elsewhere in the country, so this is a rare survivor rather than a scenic curiosity. The Dune Lake Walk goes the other way, onto the beach and a lookout over a coast piled with driftwood, some of it whole trees carried down by West Coast rivers in flood. The name comes from part of a wrecked ship's hull found here in the 1870s, possibly from the Schomberg, a clipper wrecked off the Australian coast in 1855. Sandflies at this spot are famously severe, which is not a figure of speech.

Highlights

• The kahikatea swamp forest - trees standing in water, a rare survivor.
• The dune lake - Lake Kahikatea behind the forest.
• The driftwood beach - whole trees piled by river floods.
• The two loops - about twenty minutes each, from one car park.

When to go

October to April. Any time of day; the beach lookout is best in evening light. Both walks are short and flat.

Practical notes

The sandflies here are severe even by West Coast standards - repellent and covered arms, or the visit is miserable. The beach is unsafe for swimming with heavy surf and rips. Boardwalks are slippery when wet.

Nearby

Haast is south; Knights Point lookout and the Haast Pass road are close.

Key facts