Fox River

This river is north of Punakaiki and a site with a good deal of history. It was the point where a pack track went up into the hills to go south, before the road went down along the coast. 

If you are inclined you can still walk this track over the top and back down into Punkakaiki. In the 1970’s a commune of ‘hippies’ set up here, in an attempt to live a self sufficient life and the caves by the beach, were used for Rock concerts.

It is here that we spent the weekend parked beside the bridge. Shirley and Rami came out and joined us on Saturday. The boys fished, Shirley had a swim and we explored the immediate area.  We sat on the beach at night and cooked our fish and baked our potatoes. A thoroughly enjoyable evening.

On Sunday we walked up the first part of the pack track to the ‘Caves,’ that are much further inland. This walk (90mins each way) took us through the bush alongside the river, across the river on two occasions and then up the cliffs to the caves. It was a spectacular walk and climb, and we more or less had it to ourselves, meeting only two other couples on the way out. We were unable to enter the cave as we had forgotten to take a torch!!! (will need to remember for such activities in future) but it was still worth the effort. The interpretation board gave a good history about the area, and how in the early 1900’s guided tours were taken by the publican at the local hotel, for ₤2/6. It was the publican who had built the track both up and into the caves. Only the upper cave can now be entered as the lower one has had large rock falls, so we weren’t too concerned about not being able to enter the upper one. 

The lack of rainfall in the area was certainly evident even in this normally damp area. The river was very low in places, (just as well as I wouldn’t be confident at crossing it) and some of the bush was showing signs of stress. A light rain was starting to fall as we headed back to the bus though it would need to continue for several days to be beneficial.