Okarito, West Coast Map

About Okarito, West Coast

Okarito is a locality in the West Coast Region of New Zealand. It is a small community with a population of 35. It sits at an elevation of around 20 m above sea level. It lies approximately 119 km south-west of Greymouth, the regional capital. Okarito is located at 43.2333°S, 170.1833°E. It observes New Zealand Time (NZST/NZDT).

Okarito is a place where the land exhales mist, a quiet settlement cradled by the meeting of freshwater and the vast Pacific. It lies 144.9 km west-north-west of Ashburton (from Ashburton: bearing 300°T), and is situated 34.2 km north-east of Waikowhai. The landscape here is a study in muted greens and greys, where the Okarito River, a languid ribbon, meanders towards the sea, its waters often mirroring the bruised, dramatic skies common to this western seaboard. Native bush, dense with the scent of damp earth and decaying leaves, crowds the edges of the small clearings, its emerald depths whispering secrets to the wind. Further afield, the land rises and falls in gentle undulations, a tapestry of pasture and hardy scrub, all under the watchful, distant presence of the Omoeroa Range, its peaks often shrouded in cloud. The air itself carries a clean, briny tang, a constant reminder of the ocean's proximity, even when the sea is out of sight, its rhythmic pulse a ceaseless undertone to the quietude of Okarito.

The history of Okarito is etched not in grand monuments, but in the persistent spirit of those who have sought a living from this often-challenging coast. Once a bustling gold-mining town, its fortunes have since shifted, finding a more sustainable rhythm in the bountiful waters and the burgeoning appeal of its natural beauty. The local economy now leans heavily on the patient harvest of the sea and the steady flow of travellers drawn to its wild, untamed character. The Okarito River estuary, a sanctuary for birdlife, and the nearby Three Mile Lagoon offer glimpses into a world where nature still dictates the pace. This is a place that asks for patience, a locality where the deep, resonant quietude of the land is its most distinctive feature, a gentle counterpoint to the enduring power of the ocean.

About This Okarito Map Page

This page provides an embedded street and satellite map of Okarito, West Coast, New Zealand at coordinates -43.23333, 170.18333. Use the Map and Satellite buttons to switch views, the plus and minus buttons to zoom, and Fullscreen to fill the screen.

Search Maps opens a second, independent map with four things the embedded map cannot do. It searches OpenStreetMap for any New Zealand town, suburb or landmark by name. It offers LINZ topographic maps as a base layer — the official Topo250 and Topo50 sheets, switching scale automatically as you zoom, and the standard reference for tramping, hunting and back-country travel. It offers LINZ aerial imagery down to 5cm resolution in urban areas. And it can take a single GPS fix from your device and report your position as both an NZTM2000 grid reference and plain latitude and longitude — the grid reference being what New Zealand search and rescue services work from. Map tiles require mobile coverage, but a GPS position does not, so the coordinates remain correct even where the map itself cannot load.

My Location & Navigate starts the vector-tile navigator: live turn-by-turn driving directions from your current position to any destination, with spoken guidance, lane hints and automatic re-routing.

Live weather conditions with current observations and a 7-day forecast are powered by Open-Meteo. Real-time New Zealand and world news feeds keep the page current, while an editorial description provides background on Okarito.

Okarito sits within the West Coast Region. Location data is drawn from the GeoNames geographical database and verified by coordinates, ensuring the correct Okarito is identified even where the name is shared across multiple New Zealand localities.