The Moana township lies next to Lake Brunner on the West Coast.

Baches are selling for more than $1 million and the summertime population swells by 500 per cent – could Moana be the South Island's next lakeside boom town? JOANNE CARROLL reports.

Wanaka. Tekapo. Moana?

The tiny West Coast settlement on the shores of Lake Brunner may have only 80 permanent residents, but it's become a haven for Cantabrians sick of the crowds at the South Island's other holiday hot spots.

TONY KOKSHOORN The Arnold River swing bridge at Moana has about 80,000 visitors a year.

Moana has about 300 baches – the majority (80 per cent) owned by Cantabrians. In the last two years, house prices have spiked, with some modern baches selling for more than $1 million.

The town has two eateries, a hotel, motel, camp ground and bed and breakfast accommodation, as well as numerous holiday homes for rent. People go for fishing, swimming and boating.

Grey Mayor Tony Kokshoorn was born just down the road at Ruru in 1955, when Moana was a sleepy little sawmilling town. He says the area has a long history. Maori used the area for gathering both food and greenstone before settlers moved in once the railway made it to Moana from Greymouth in 1893.

JOANNE CARROLL/STUFF The Lake Brunner campground at Moana on the West Coast.

"It's seen steady growth – it's not Wanaka or Queenstown. Once the sawmills closed the town itself went backward but now tourism has taken over," he says.

READ MORE: Farmers praised for cleanup of West Coast's Lake Brunner

Kokshoorn, who built his own bach in Moana 21 years ago, says the landscape is the area's main drawcard.

JOANNE CARROLL/STUFF Lake Brunner campground owner Grahame Ott

"I absolutely love the place. The views are to die for. What's beautiful about Moana is it's got all seasons. Winter is beautiful, the lake is like glass, there's snow on the mountains all around and the lake is just so still. It's spectacular.

"I have never hesitated to put my cup out over the side of my boat and just drink the water."

Others don't need much persuading about the delights Kokshoorn extols. Wrightson's rural residential sales consultant Dave Becker says the average house price in Moana is $450,000 and the average 500-square-metre section costs about $125,000.

JOANNE CARROLL/STUFF Moana's Stationhouse Cafe owner Peter Mac.

Some people still thought of the West Coast as a "cheap buy", but the average four-bedroom house at the top end of the market in Moana could sell for about $700,000. A bach currently for sale at Iveagh Bay had an asking price of $1.1m and he knew of another which cost $1m to build.

"They think they should be paying less, but the reality is if they were paying for a bach in Wanaka or Queenstown it would be twice as much," he says.

Most of the baches are two-storey, built in the last six years, and have views of the lake, he says.

TONY KOKSHOORN Lake Brunner is a favourite swimming spot in summer months.

Two years ago, he had about 30 properties for sale in Moana – now he has only five.

Compare that to Tekapo and Te Anau, where real estate agents say populations and property prices have risen steadily – particularly over the last two years.

The entry level price for a Tekapo house – most of them holiday homes – is about $600,000 and properties commonly cost in excess of $1 million, Lj Hooker McKenzie Country manager Gary Sutherland said.

JOANNE CARROLL/STUFF There are 300 baches at Moana, and only 80 permanent residents.

"That's based on both supply and demand and that's both national and international buyers. It's a very similar story to Queenstown, but just on a smaller scale and three years later."

Ray White licensee agent Don McFarlane attributed Te Anau property price increases to the tourist industry.

While most Moana homeowners do not live there year-round, the village has community spirit in spades.

CATHERINE BYRNE Lake Brunner at Moana is beautiful during winter months.

Locals raised $360,000 for a new medical centre last year to replace a clinic built in the 1960s. The old clinic had just one-room and no privacy.

"If you were waiting, there was someone just over there in the same room talking to the doctor. We were thinking if we don't do something with that clinic the DHB are liable to close it," Kokshoorn says.

Volunteers found the money – including a $100,000 donation from Gloriavale Christian Community, located nearby – got some land from the Grey District Council, and built the new clinic.

JOANNE CARROLL/STUFF The Moana community is fundraising to save St John's Church in the village.

"There was a lot of in–kind work done by tradespeople. A lot of bach owners donated. It just shows what a community can do when it rolls its sleeves up," Kokshoorn says.

Locals are now rallying to buy the historic St John's Church, which was built in Ruru in 1932 and moved to Moana in 1968.

It went on the market in 2014, and local groups agreed to buy for $175,000, to be paid over three years.

JOANNE CARROLL/STUFF Holiday homes at Moana on Lake Brunner.

Moana Save Our Church Committee member Sarah Hammond says they are halfway there thanks to fundraising through online platform Givealittle and old-fashioned raffles, market days and high tea events.

"We have a lot of work still to do," she says.

What the building would be used for was "anyone's guess".

JOANNE CARROLL/STUFF Holiday homes at Moana on Lake Brunner.

"It doesn't have to stay a church, but it could. It could be a community space ... But we wanted to save it for the history of the building because once it's gone it's gone," Hammond says.

Brent Beadle has been taking tourists on guided fishing trips on Lake Brunner for 15 years.

"I came here 25 years ago fishing for a week with my family and bought the hotel ... because I went to buy fish and chips for my family and all I could get was a microwave pie. I could see an opening. I had it for 10 years and gave people somewhere to eat."

TONY KOKSHOORN Sunset over Lake Brunner at Moana

Locals realise the fishing, swimming and boating pastimes are at risk if they become complacent about their best asset – the environment.

"The water quality was slipping and there has been a huge effort from farmers, at times a massive financial effort to build stock bridges," Beadle says.

"They worked together with the regional council to have the lake back by 2020, but they met their targets five years ahead of schedule. The fishing fraternity and lake users are hugely grateful for the massive effort."

SUPPLIED Grey Mayor Tony Kokshoorn helped the Moana community fundraise to build a new health clinic.

Phillip Barnett, who owns Hotel Lake Brunner now, is part of a local group keen to build a new walking and cycle track around the lake to link up with the West Coast Wilderness Trail.

Barnett bought the hotel five years ago, but has had a bach at nearby Iveagh Bay for about 17 years.

"We became refugees after the Christchurch earthquake and moved to our bach full time and never went back."

JOANNE CARROLL/STUFF The township of Moana overlooks Lake Brunner.

He now employs more than 20 people at the hotel, and owns the i-Site in nearby Greymouth. His tourism connections have allowed him to secure the Chinese tour bus market and offer special deals alongside the TranzAlpine train, which stops at Moana's historic train station on its daily journey between Christchurch and Greymouth.

While the town's popularity is growing, not everyone is willing to stay.

Stationhouse Cafe owners Jan and Peter Mac have been in Moana for 17 years.

JOANNE CARROLL/STUFF The township of Moana overlooks Lake Brunner.

"This place is going to really boom in 10 to 20 years," Peter Mac says.

"We're very busy in summer, the biggest thing is people coming in with boats and jet skis. Water skiing is popular all year round but the lake is lovely for swimming in summer."

The water can reach 25 degrees Celsius in summer because the 120-metre-deep lake is mountain fed, not snow fed.

JOANNE CARROLL/STUFF Lake Brunner school at Moana.

"Five rivers feed the lake and one drains it. It picks up the tannins from the rivers so the water can be quite dark and that absorbs the heat of the sun."

Grahame and Jacki Ott have owned the Lake Brunner campground for 23 years, but the couple plan to move back to Christchurch.

They can accommodate 300 people in summer, but business dies off in winter.

JOANNE CARROLL/STUFF There are 300 baches at Moana, and only 80 permanent residents.

Kokshoorn hopes to spend more time at his bach after he retires next year.

"It's just 25 minutes from Greymouth but it's a world of difference. When I'm in Greymouth it's just business business business, it never stops. I can drive those 25 minutes to Moana, I open the car door and the stress just goes. I just totally relax," he says.

SUPPLIED The first train at Moana during its sawmilling days.

SUPPLIED The Robson children spend their days swimming and fishing at Lake Brunner after moving to Moana.