Hokitika Gorge

Somehow we managed to sleep in today so we were late getting started. We did the usual and decided to empty out waste fluids and fill with fresh ones, so dump station first and then BP in Hokitika. We will be lucky if they have us back. Bruce managed to drop a 2 litre bottle of milk at the counter and the bottom of the bottle split open, emptying the entire contents of the bottle over him, the counter, the displays of chocolate bars and onto the floor! I wondered why it was taking him so long! Anyway, they were very good about it and still let us fill up with fuel and water (and we needed a coffee after all the drama), and we were on our way.

Hokitika Gorge is about 33kms east of Hokitika. The marketing promos say that it is a place where you won’t believe the pictures you see of it until you see it for yourself, and I would have to say that is true. The road is narrow and windy, and metal for the last stretch, and parking is really tight.

What follows is a walk through bush on a well formed track until you come to a swingbridge. Just before the swingbridge you get glimpses of the aqua blue water, made that colour from the glaciers it comes from.

The colour really does have to be seen to be believed, but it is made more special by the bush around it, and the sound of the river cascading over the stones. It was a bit drizzly at times so I had my coat with me and the water was almost the same colour as my coat.

However, the coat was also useful as a protection from the sandflies. They were the worst we had come across yet! It almost seemed like they were battling themselves for position on our skin, including in our faces.

Our next expedition was Bruce’s usual quest to find a shady parking spot for lunch. He decided that the carpark of the treetops walk tourist attraction would be a likely place, but no shade was to be had. It was getting late so we stopped anyway. It is appalling that man altered landscapes are not better cared for. Right around the carpark was mature, rampant gorse. Any spare space was taken up by ragwort. Surely there should be a requirement of these tourist operators to take more care of our land?

The drive to Franz Joseph took us about 2 1/2 hours. Some of it was through dairy farmland, where on the whole, the land looked well cared for and the stock content. No need for irrigation around here. We also passed quite a large gold mining area outside of Ross and across the road was acres and acres of stones – their waste product. Farmland gave way to mature bush where there were many very tall, large rimus and even taller beech trees. We did not see so many flowering rata trees on this drive.

We crossed bridges over stony rivers where the colour of the water was a more muted shade of the real aqua colour we had seen at Hokitika Gorge. The colour difference may be due to the river not beeing so deep at that point. They were very attractive none the less.

We also passed to lakes as we came closer to Franz Joseph – Lake Waihono and Lake Mapourika. There seemed to be quite a few motohomers camping beside Lake Mapourika,and it would have been an idyllic spot, but I am sure that dogs would not be allowed.

The NZMCA Park in Franz Jospeh took a bit to find but we finally parked up, and after toileting the dogs we grabbed our togs and towels and headed for a soak in the hot pools. The complex is very attractive and tastefully planted. Three main pools varied in temperature from 36 degrees to 40 degrees, so we went from one to the other depending on whether we wanted to warm up or cool down a tad. It was a very pleasant way to spend an hour or so before heading back to the dogs and a late dinner.