Hokitika, New Zealand Travel Blogs

Swing bridge fun
Nov 18, 2005 (10 photos)

... is. We had a browse around town the next morning as the sun had made an overdue appearance. As Hokitika is 'the greenstone capital of New Zealand,' I took Mum and Stu inside one of the greenstone factories. We spent ages looking at the different designs ...

Beautiful Birdsong...
Oct 13, 2005

... coastal route being just as impressive as the Great Ocean Road in my opinion. We arrived at Birdsong, one of my favourite backpackers in New Zealand, at about 6pm. It is a spotless place full of character, and I get on really well with Neil, the owner. ...

The trip to Franz Josef
Mar 7, 2005 (1 photos)

Back on the bus again to Franz Josef. We worked our way down the west coast and stopped in Hokitika for lunch, I had a walk around town. There was a green stone factory/shop but it I couldn't find anything that I like- no that's not true I found loads that ...

Jade Country
Jul 12, 2005 (5 photos)

... I decided to stay a third day at Birdsong, and when I heard that Karen was going to the clear blue waters of Hokitika Gorge, I cheekily asked if I could tag along! Luckily she agreed, so we had a steady 33km drive along deserted roads before reaching ...

Beach art
Jan 29, 2008 (12 photos)

Not much to do in Hokitika, other than shopping for Jade. There was a nice beach art we checked out before we got going. *** WORLD CHANGE STARTS WITH EDUCATED CHILDREN! Give a girl the life long gift of education! Support my appeal 100 GIRLS BACK TO ...

A bit of Rest, Relaxation and Luxury is needed!
Apr 22, 2007 (3 photos)

... by the sea for lunch (probably the nicest and cheapest fish and chips we have had on our travels) we went to view Hokitika Gorge. Although this was a 60k round trip, it was well worth the drive. The water being a gorgeous bright blue. Photographs will not ...

Hokitika
Jun 12, 2005

We left Franz Josef glacier to head to Hokitika, the next decent sized town along the West Coast, to find a pub to watch the rugby again. This time it was Lions v NZ Maori and we lost it narrowly 19-13, but we did make some new Kiwi friends in the process. ...

Westcoast and whitebait
Dec 12, 2003 (3 photos)

... It's easy to imagine the arriving Polynesians, never having seen snow, calling it Aotearoa, "The Land of the Long White Cloud." From Hokitika, we're drawn south to the glaciers. By now, a 150 kilometre drive like this zips by in a round of snappy banter ...

Mmmmm, yummy pancakes :P
Mar 28, 2009 (13 photos)

... to Westport, a drive that was pretty enough, but rather uninteresting. We expected the Buller Gorge swingbridge (the longest swingbridge in New Zealand) to be of interest to us, but it turned out to be a disappointment. The bridge is on private land and ...

West Coast, NZ
Jan 17, 2006 (4 photos)

... hour. Melissa was bitten by a pirahnna. Nope, j/k. Wanted to keep your attention. Next we decided to go to a town called Hokitika. We stayed in a stunning hostel. We walked the Black sand beach, which is known for jade. We found 3 pieces, Melissa tried ...

Hokitika
Feb 1, 2007 (5 photos)

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Hokitika
Mar 2, 2008

Hokitika

Hokitika, New Zealand
Sep 11, 2007

Update in the near future

Gloworms and Greenstone
May 7, 2007

... us. It was really good to be able to walk into their cave without having to pay for a guide as is the case in much of New Zealand. It was cool to see so many of them, that you wouldn't have been able to see at all had it not been completely pitch black. ...

Lake Mahinapua and the Poo Pub
May 24, 2009 (10 photos)

The Kiwi Bus stops in Mahinapua, a place in the middle of no where, to stay in a pub owned by the oldest publican in NZ, an 83 year old called Les. The bus has the whole place to our selves, and each night there is a fancy dress party with a different ...

From North to South and East to West
Oct 2, 2009 (3 photos)

...  Unfortunately, it was raining on the pass.  We weren't able to do the hiking as planned.  We continued onto Hokitika where we are staying for the night at the Stations Inn.  We arrived in the afternoon around 4PM and we went into town ...

Pacific ocean to tasman sea in one day (oct ...
Oct 22, 2000

... the road and the large cranes and other machinery. We reached the west coast at Kumara Junction and headed south to Hokitika. The east coast that we left this morning consisted of charming fishing villages in sheltered bays while the west coast was ...

Hoki to the locals!
Feb 23, 2007

... . Stu bought me a lovely Greenstone necklace and Greenstone ear-rings for my birthday (which is on Wed 28 Feb) Hokitika is a small town, and we will be heading to Greymouth tomorrow and spending the night there. Oh well, more updates ...

Lake Kaniere
Mar 4, 2008 (6 photos)

Last night we stayed by Lake Kaniere, it is again!!! the most gorgeous setting, Yesterday we went for a 3 hour walk to Dorethy falls which was lovely, Baz today is climbing Mount Tuhua, we do not know the height, but will find out but it is a 7 hour ...

NZ here we come
Jan 12, 2007 (5 photos)

... by rain and very low clouds! Once over he pass the rain eased and we finally saw the sun and blue skies. Arrived in Hokitika late morning - quiet seaside town famous for jade and not much else. Visited local gorge and did several walks in the fantastic ...

Hokitika
Jan 3, 2008

First whitebait at my pubhotel, plus many jade, gold and crafts shops.

Is crispy a vegetable? Is tasty a cheese?
Jan 9, 2007 (7 photos)

Jeannie here.  We've learned a lot of new vocab in NZ.  To pass another car is to "overtake"; to yield is to "give way"; a traffic circle is a "roundabout" and everything is either "brilliant" or "sorted out".  We've been touring around in ...

More Pictures
Jan 10, 2007

Sean here:  I put a some pictures up on my google photos section.  Just click here to view them. Other than that, I'm greatly enjoying learning how to drive manual on the wrong side of the road, on gravel roads, going up steep mountains, all ...

Finding time to get bored!
Feb 15, 2009

... of insect repellent we applied to ourselves. The rest of the afternoon took us past the most photographed stretch of road in New Zealand, being a granite rock overhanging a single track road - for about 50 meters. As the gorge opened up there were ...

much adventure
Feb 2, 2006 (8 photos)

... but also that we didn't have to go on a day-long trek to reach this part of the glacier. After Fox we drove on to Hokitika to spend the night and have a look at the glow-worm dell conveniently located just over the road from our holiday park. This so- ...

Hoki
Jan 21, 2007 (6 photos)

... to the campsite to pick up the other two still just getting out of bed and we made the 33km drive out to see the Hokitika Gorge amid pretty solid rain. The drive howvere was definately worth it as we climbed down the slippery path in our jandals to come ...

Fox Glacier Minted
Dec 13, 2008 (19 photos)

... cross crevasses, skip seracs and crawl through ice caves before the helicopters come back to pick us up. See photos. The drive to Hokitika takes longer than we had thouight so it is 2030 by the time we get into the campsite. Just in time to see ...

Hokey Pokey
Oct 31, 2008 (11 photos)

Long drive down from Nelson,  stopping at the longest swingbridge in NZ, over the Buller river. Where we panned for gold (and found some), got eaten alive by sandflies :-(    We took the quick route back tandem comet!! ...

West Coast Ramblings
Apr 30, 2006 (5 photos)

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Vroom Vroom.. to the WFF??!
Mar 9, 2007 (16 photos)

... The plan was to pick up Cecile in Nelson after id finished work, get the tkts, and drive on down the west coast to Hokitika.  This loose plan worked up until... oh about 9pm-ish id guess?!   Then, after me nicely pulling over to let ...