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 wreckage of an Australian ship that washed up here in 1867. Sandflies at this spot are famously severe, which is not a figure of speech.

What you actually see

• 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.

Honest expectations

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.