Pounawea Bush & Nature Walk

At low tide this 40-minute round trip is an absolute treasure. The walk starts at the back of the Pounawea Motor Camp and goes through virgin podocarp forest, returning via the open salt marsh and estuary. The thick forest is a living museum of New Zealand’s big old handsome natives, which grow to the water’s edge. Stepping out onto the salt marsh at the bush edge leads to an entirely different ecosystem and a treasure trove for hunting for small shells and other natural minutiae. Birdlife is plentiful too, including migratory bar-tailed godwits (kuaka), which feed in flocks on the mudflats in summer, oystercatchers (tōrea), royal spoonbill and white-faced herons.