http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Hokitika/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Oceania , New Zealand , South Island , Hokitika en-us Thu, 04 Dec 2008 22:11:41 UTC Thu, 04 Dec 2008 22:11:41 UTC The West Coast District of the South Island Packs in Variety from Rugged Coastlines to Mountain Glaciers In one day was able to walk through a dense rain forest sit on a deserted ocean beach and peer up at a mountain glacier in the Southern Alps Here is a sampling of my time on the West Coast... http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Hokitika/blog-347955.html Thursday 9th October After an early start we were in Hokitika just as the shops were opening. Before we went into town we stopped at the river entrance and looked back over the ranges to the east. The cloud had lifted a little and we could see some snowcapped mountains. On a clear day apparently you can see all the alps including Mt Cook. Just doesn't seem that we are going to see this icon on th http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Hokitika/blog-336399.html De hokitika seguimos hacia el sur para otro lago el Kaniere. Hicimos la caminata cortita hasta las cascadas Dorothy donde casi quedo viuda ... El Joaco salt pis en un tronco se resbal y se dio un golpazo en la pierna la cabeza se salv. De ahi nos fuimos al lago cuando llegamos era la tardecita habia un seor en el agua... A pesar de que se estaba poniendo frio... el seor seguia en http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Hokitika/blog-327671.html Day 541 20.09.08Since we've got plenty of time at the moment we start each day with no definite plan as to what we'll do but normally a basic plan as to where we'll end up. We planned to reach Hokitika today and were there by about lunch time.On the way we made a stop at Hari Hari where we found our way to the 'landing' site of Guy Menzies a young chap who was the first person to singlehandedly http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Hokitika/blog-325742.html Wake up pretty late actually. We were to be leaving at 730am so I had an hour to shower get all packed up and to have some breakfast. Thankfully Irsquod done it in time though I was the last to put my stuff on the coach. I had some cornflakes and a cuppa for breakfast.Our first destination was Lake Matheson. This was only a 6km drive from the village.It was a perfect sunny day today. It was http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Hokitika/blog-317113.html We survived the ferry from Wellington to Picton. The water was calm thank goodness. Sometimes that waterway gets up to 8 meter swells so we were luckyWe spent the night in Blenheim with Gonzalo at the backpackers in town. There were people from all over the world. It was so much fun and brought me back right back to the good old days in South America. We ate Thai food with Gonzalo again and r http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Hokitika/blog-307377.html Romantische Gruesze aus Hokitika http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Hokitika/blog-266867.html A few pictures of yesterday's journey from Franz Joseph to Hokitika Alex took more arty shots http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Hokitika/blog-261342.html Vuokraamon mies tuli noutamaan minut kymmenelta. Harmikseni aurinkolasieni toinen sanka irtosi mutta onnekseni ehdin korjauttaa sen viela optikolla.Klo 11 lahdin ajamaan kaupungista poispain. Vasemmalla ajaminen oli yllattavan helppoa. Alkumatka oli tasaista maastoa. Sitten maisemat jyrkkenivat. Yllattavan helppoa oli silti ajaa vuoristossa. Piti vain pysytella omalla kaistalla ja paastin kiireis http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Hokitika/blog-257857.html Hello allAs most of you are probably aware I'm back in the country of normal coloured cheese and multiple cheddars I counted 13 different types of cheddar in the supermarket today. For the moment at least.I arrived the day before Elly and Benj's wedding in beautiful sunshine and promptly went for my first and only summer sea swim at Balena Bay with Dad the Wellington Sea is still freezin http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Hokitika/blog-250888.html Sathy a quitte la NZ ce matin... moi je suis toute perdue... et toute triste... j'ai prit l'avion pour rejoindre Sara. Un gros tout d'abord pour atteindre l'ile du Sud et Christchurch puis un tout petit on etait 4 dedans ce morceau de feraille qui a traverse les Alps NZ tout en tremblant Et voila je me retrouve a Hokitika petite bourgade de 4000 habitants la mer le soleil qui est reven http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Hokitika/blog-249466.html 27th January 2008Today we left Rangiora and travelled through the Southern Alps via Arthur's Pass to Hokitika.We seemed to be travelling in the opposite direction to a group on a motorcycle rally. Apparently 2000 motorcyclists had met in Hokitika and were having a ride out across Arthur's Pass. As one of the motorcyclists said to us ldquoit is an awesome riderdquo.We stopped several times in t http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Hokitika/blog-239834.html We slept in and had a good breakfast at the Fox Glacier Lodge. A great place. This was a pretty light day with a two hour drive to Hokitika. This small town is known for artists that carve Jade Greenstone found here on the west coast of the South Island. We walked around the town and bought some nice souvenirs. Brian even found a New Zealand Sheepdog whistle carved from Jade. They are tric http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Hokitika/blog-224064.html When planning our trip with Robert we asked for interesting walks during our driving journeys. So on our way from Nelson to Hokitika we stop at an abandoned rail line to walk through Kalwatiri tunnel. Stepping through the tunnelrsquos dark mouth water drips onto our heads and Irsquom relieved to see light from the other side. To return we take a short walk through a natural beech forest a http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Hokitika/blog-223629.html It started off quite well really cycling merrily along the Canterbury plains in the blazing sunshine. In the space of about 3 and a half hours i had cycled to Springfield 80km NE of Christchurch All this talk from people about not cycling Arthur's pass had been dismissed out of my mind. To be honest by the time i got to Springfield all these noncey thoughts had left my mind completely. Then it http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Hokitika/blog-214652.html This blog was lost due to a system crash so 3 months later Im trying to remember the text that goes with the pictures Arrived into the sleepy town of Hokitika from Nelson Via The Punakiki Pancake rocks which were pretty bizzare took www.nakedbus.com very good for 1 dollar journeys they dont travel the whole of the South Island but most of it.I went in search of Steve from Bonz Stonz... appar http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Hokitika/blog-203855.html Leaving Punakaiki behind us we continued south down the coast road through Barrytown and past 1714 and 12 mile bluff Motukiekie Rocks and onto Greymouth. After a brief shop and visit to the seafront we turned inland following the Grey River for a while and then south again along the Lake Brunner road to overnight near the Arnold River Scenic Reserve.The next morning we backtracked to visit the http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Hokitika/blog-195379.html 7 am is very early to catch a shuttle especially when you don't even have a ticket for the train I managed to catch the second shuttle to the station since there were suddenly 30 backpackers waiting for the free shuttle. I booked one of the last seats on the TranzAlpine the ONLY way to cross the Southern Alps. It was 4 hours from Christchurch to Greymouth through cow and sheep dotted paddocks http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Hokitika/blog-174774.html A quick update today just to tell my cool story. I am staying in Hokitika and from here I will cut across the country to the East coast to Christchurch where I fly to Sydney in just a few days Check out the map of NZ if you would like to get an idea of my change of route. I'm quite pleased to have found myself a ride with such a great girl and to be saving about 100 on train or bus tickets http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Hokitika/blog-170522.html Day 16 Saturday 5th may Left the hostel around 10ish it was absolutely pouring with rain boohoo Picked up Gem Kee's coats from the Franz Josef office as they were bit silly and left them there day before after the Glacier walk Sarah drove today. We headed toward Hokitika a smallish town further north just south of greymouth. We drove across some plains but most of the drive was http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Hokitika/blog-157597.html Hokitika and Arthurs PassnbspAustralasia raquonbspNew Zealand raquonbspSouth Island raquonbspHokitika By DR Drea AKA TedMay 1st 2007Paul Michael James Dreaonly spent the night in Hotty after the trek in Franz.then it was the big drive over the Pass down past Christchurch to Kaikoura.i can't wait to get to Samoa and rest a little http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Hokitika/blog-154101.html Managed to depart by 805am and headed first inland along Arthur's pass for a sightseeing tour. The scenery is magnificent. We stopped for coffee and the largest date scone I've ever seen at the cafegeneral store in the village of Arthur's Pass. We headed on a short distance for more scenery before returning the way we came. At one lookout by the Otapi viaduct we saw our first wild Kea close u http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Hokitika/blog-151943.html Today we drove from Franz Josef to Greymouth...well Helen and Lisa did seeing as I did the other driving. Bearing in mind the other towns we have stayed in since Queenstown have been quite small we we're quite relieved to find out their was a McDonalds in Greymouth. If their is a McDonalds then usually the town is a decent enough size. Seeing as Maccys had caused such relief we felt it rude not t http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Hokitika/blog-145302.html This was a very worthwhile detour off the main road from Greymouth Blog to Franz Josef SH6 but probably only if you haven't already seen the incredibly blue waters of lakes Pukaki or Tekapo we hadn't yet. A detour it is however about 30 minutes each way. After being wowed by the Blue Lake of Mt. Gambier in Australia Blog I didn't expect to be as amazed by incredible blue waters agai http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Hokitika/blog-141354.html It's been at least three weeks since our last update and we have moved all the way up the west coast during that time. We've moved on every two or three days and continued to stay in a whole range of accommodation it's been absolutely brilliant. So. let's pick up from last time Monday 5th March Doubtful Sound wow what a fantastic day we had. We set off across Lake Manapouri on a grey ov http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Hokitika/blog-141133.html This weekend we decided to take Lola for her maiden voyage on a road trip to the west coast to Hokitika for the WildFoods Festival. Supposedly it is one of the top 100's New Zealand must do's. The night before we had our first weekly gormet dinner and Sandra and I made enchiladas and we had coronas and christened our new Corona before the big trip. We left on Thursday afternoon after stopping b http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Hokitika/blog-138341.html Hey AllSo here is part 2 of the post. Hope you all enjoyed the first part. I forgot to mention in my last post that before our big trip to the Catlans a bunch of us all went to see Katchafire a fairly famous NZ band. The concert was amazing. Anyway this past week I have started to get into the swing of having class a bit more but am still struggling to find the motivation at times. I am still http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Hokitika/blog-137326.html Well the Wildfoods Festival lived up to its name in many different ways. I donrsquot think we really knew what we were getting ourselves into by signing up for the bus trip there but I can definitely say that over the past 48 I have had one of the weirdest but most wonderful weekends ever. Irsquoll start from the beginninghellipThe bus was supposed to be leaving at 7am ldquosharprdquo http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Hokitika/blog-136957.html Hump Day. Yes the Middle of our journey.Checked out of the Greymouth YHA this was pretty ok at about 8am. I know and wersquore on holidays But it was well worth it as the road to Hokitika was quite busy even them. Len had chatted to an American women at the YHA over the dishes yes he can do them and she said that her and hubby had come to NZ just for the festival. Well I can see why http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Hokitika/blog-136652.html We have had an absolute blast over the past few days since NelsonOn the 15th Thursday we drove from Nelson to Motueka where we decided to make the most of our time and take a water taxi into the Abel Tasman from Marahau. It was a good choice as we were able to get almost a third of the way up the coast in 25 minutes and it was already 3pm We got dropped off at Anchorage Beach which was lo http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Hokitika/blog-130198.html