Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
WHAT TO BRING
If you intend staying at Ces Clark Hut you will need to bring your own stove. Be sure, also,
to come prepared for bad weather as conditions can change quickly in this area, any time of
year.
MAPS
This track is covered by NZTopo50
BT19
(Runanga) and
BT20
(Ahaura).
HUTS & CAMPING
stove. Camping is also permitted, free except within 50m of the hut.
8
Getting to/from the Tramp
This track can be walked in either direction, but is more commonly completed from the
backwater town of Blackball (25km inland from Greymouth), over to blink-and-you-miss-it
Barrytown (16km south of Punakaiki). From Blackball, it's 6km up to the Smoke-Ho Creek
car park on a rough and narrow but well-signposted road to Roa.
Blackball boasts a general store and a spectacularly good sausage shop, as well as the his-
Hilton St; s/d incl breakfast $55/110, meals $12-34)
, where you can get food, lodging and trans-
port to both trailheads as well as to and from Greymouth, on demand. Sample fares are $25
from Blackball to Smoke-Ho, and $50 from Barrytown to Blackball, with car storage avail-
port from Greymouth ($50 per person, minimum two people).
At Barrytown the track is clearly signposted at the side of SH6, directly opposite the All
Nations Hotel, which offers very limited services. You can arrange to be picked up from
Barrytown by passing buses plying the Punakaiki to Greymouth route.
The Tramp
Day 1: Smoke-Ho Creek Car Park to Ces Clark Hut
3-4 HOURS, 8KM, 640M ASCENT
At the car park you can climb the hill near the exposed coal seam for good views of the
area, and then descend in a northwesterly direction through a mixed podocarp and beech
forest towards the creek. The old pack track makes for easy walking, and within 10 minutes
