Understand
The West Coast was the last frontier to be exploited by New Zealands colonists. The region still has that frontier look and feel in many places. Even a few metres from the roadside you can experience what the first explorers might have encountered - pure and natural nature.
Before tourism became a more economical sustainable business, coasters mined coal, dredged or panned for gold, cut down the native forests. Generally they cleared the land and drained the swamps for farming and exploiting the land for its minerals. They still exploit the land for coal and timber but now it tends to be done in more environmentally sustainable ways.
Today, much of the land and forest has been put into the conservation estate. Many areas of marginal farmland have been allowed to revert to more natural states. Environmental issues are now recognised as important and more highly valued, and fought over, where threatened.
Because of this, some believe the Coast is on its last legs, yet others see great potential for a land full of natural beauty, ready to be exploited by, and developed for, tourists, in environmentally sustainable ways.
