Sunday 8 March 2026 – I had pigeonholed Hokitika as simply being a staging post on our journey south to do some real touristing, but the events of the day proved that there was more to the place than simply an overnight stay. The weather outlook was not promising.

A closer look didn’t make it any more appealing

but here we were, and Jane had found some Things To Look For. We’d debated going out the previous evening, when the weather was, if not actually sunny, rather better, but this blog doesn’t write itself, you know, so I voted to stay in. Not the correct decision, I agree, but then I was happy to have caught up somewhat with keeping you, dear reader, up to date with our adventures.

Anyhoo….it was damp, and I had low expectations of Hokitika. These were gradually confounded over the course of the morning.  Even in dull and grey conditions, it has a charm all its own; somewhat hippy,

and very arty.

The beach access street

was lined with artworks, the winners and runners up in a recent competition.

The town is also noted as a centre for “greenstone” – jade; you’ll remember the lady at the Beach Coffee Cart in Tongariro? She mentioned the jade connection, and Jane thought it would be worth looking around to see what was on offer.  There were many outlets and much exquisitely carved greenstone to admire, including this charming place called Bonz’n’Stonz,

where not only could you buy ornaments in jade and other materials, but you could also have a session where you could learn to carve it yourself.

After this window shopping, we stopped off for a coffee in Thatcher and Small, clearly a popular place for a Sunday breakfast and reading of the papers.

The coffee was very good, but it took them over 25 minutes to deliver it. You really have to be not in a hurry for your coffee in this country. Then we headed towards the town clock

which is a memorial erected to the memory of soldiers lost in the Boer War of 1899 – 1902. Pointing at it was another statue, commemorating the pioneer settlers of Westland.

Jane had spotted an “attraction” on Google maps called “Driftwood Sculptures”, so we headed in their direction, to find that they were just beside the Town Name

which itself was beside another name,

that of the tribe that formerly occupied much of the South Island before they were displaced by Ngāti Māmoe, who in turn were later dominated by Ngāi Tahu. There will be a quiz later. The driftwood sculptures themselves

were not something that made for a great attraction, particularly since the rain was becoming quite persistent by this stage, so, seeking indoor entertainment, we made our way to the National Kiwi Centre. Which is basically an aquarium. From the outside it looks rather ramshackle, but it’s well-organised inside, with several tanks of aquatic life, such as turtles

Kokopu, which the locals call Whitebait.

Not the same as UK whitebait, I don’t think… They have axolotls

which I’ve never seen before, but which any fule kno is a species of paedomorphic mole salamander. Oh, yes it is. They have a large tank with a lot of giant longfin eels in it – maybe 5 or 6 feet long and astonishingly as much as 100 years old

and one of the attractions of the place is the opportunity to feed these things. I was expecting this to be done by staff, but actually visitors are allowed to hand meat over to these creatures, which, it became clear, haven’t got very good vision.

I was expecting a feeding frenzy with lots of thrashing about, but actually it was a relatively calm affair. Visitors could also go and stroke them to understand what their skin felt like. Jane reports that it feels like stroking a plump, slightly warm, satin pillow.

Amazingly, for somewhere that bills itself as a national centre for the beasts, they do have a couple of kiwis, and these were fed after the eels. They are, of course, kept in dark conditions, but we were able to see the back end of one stubbornly sleeping in a corner, and another one fossicking around looking for food in its pen – it seemed more interested in that than the food which was placed there by the staff, actually.

OK, I confess; this is a photo of a photo which we were given at the centre; photography by visitors was strictly forbidden.

All these things served to combat the grey and depressing nature of the weather and left a nice impression of Hokitika, which is small but full of character.  But we only had the one day there, and it was time to go into Haydn, which I’ll tell you all about in the next entry.