West Coast

West Coast accommodation sits between rainforest, lake and the Tasman Sea, with cottages and baches from Greymouth to lakeside Moana. Mist lifts off Lake Brunner most mornings, and the trout fishing is taken seriously.

Greymouth suits a night at either end of the TranzAlpine rail journey, with the Pancake Rocks at Punakaiki up the coast. Inchbonnie is farmland under Mount Alexander, where the loudest thing going is the weather. This is the least crowded corner of an uncrowded island.