Wild West New Zealand

Two things drew us to Hokitika, ghosts and kiwis.

Okay, we didn’t really go hunting for ghosts, but as our chosen campsite was a former insane asylum I can’t be blamed for thinking there would be a few floating around. Seaview lodge and campsite hadn’t changed too much since it’s former asylum days - at least in the one building we had access to - an old nurses station is now a kitchen but the rooms mostly look as you’d imagine, cream coloured walls, 70's carpets and an abundance of interior windows. There was one room however, that had been completely changed, gone was the calming colour pallet and in its place was graffiti adorned walls featuring trippy psychedelic images; with the addition of a pool table and DJ booth it clear we'd found the party room. It was interesting, wandering around, trying to envision how it would have been when it was in use and what life was like for the patients who had an amazing view of a beach they wouldn’t have been able to visit. For us, it was one of our favourite places to stay and quietly ghostless.

Spectres aside lets jump to the real reason of our visit, Kiwis. As the Kiwi is the national bird of New Zealand and beloved by all, you might think they would be easy to come across in the wild but that’s hardly the case. Hiding in burrows by day and only emerging at night, they are elusive buggers, so elusive in fact that a small part of me truly believes that the whole thing is a hoax and they don’t exist at all. Willing to be proved wrong I happily forked over sixty dollars to the National Kiwi Centre just so Ben and I could have a look at one.

There was some other New Zealand wildlife there, mainly eels and other aquatic beasts but honestly once you’ve stared at a tank full of eels no other fish matter. I have a slight phobia of swimming in deep waters but I thought I was fine in freshwater before I saw the eels, now every dark corner is hiding one of the slippery nightmares and I have to remind myself there are no records of eel attacks that i know of (please if there is, let me live in ignorance). Luckily for the two Kiwis residents of the National Kiwi centre their enclosure was quite large and mirrored their natural nocturnal life. Unluckily for us, this made it rather hard to see them. If you’ve never seen a kiwi, let me describe them to you. Picture a football, combine that with an elaborate feather duster, add in the nose of an anteater now imagine that it was drawn by child. They move in a way that defies gravity and by having no native predators seem to have missed out of many evolutionary steps that are normal for birds… such as the ability to fly away or move quickly in any direction. After twenty minutes of staring I’m still not sure they actually exist, animatronics are getting pretty advanced and until I see one in the wild I won’t be convinced.

Photo given to us by staff at the kiwi centre.

The rest of Hokitika was lovely enough, a rough sea attracts surfers and the high street was filled with shops selling wooden goods and greenstone. Our only problem was the lack of cafe options, they were there but in true NZ style they finished serving at two thirty and we still haven’t got the hang of being hungry at specified times. Once the sun fell, we visited the rather impressive glow worm dell that was a short walk away from our camp. It’s always such a strange sight, a pitch black space lit by hundreds of little worms waving their tiny glowing blue bottoms around. The night we visited was strangely busy and as glow worms find artificial light abhorrent it make some awkward encounters, literally bumping into people who were silently admiring the glow.

With only a few weeks of freedom left before work it was time to start heading north. Next up the coast was Greymouth, a cute historic town with a past in mining. We ended up staying here for three days. As those days were plagued with torrential rain we didn’t do much, a brief wander about the town and a walk down the beach was all we managed between downpours. Hoping the weather would be better elsewhere we continued our journey up the coast.

The sun started to shine as we came across pancake rocks, a popular tourist attraction that was helpfully set down a well maintained track next to a public carpark. These strange rock formations are layers upon layers of limestone, once a part of the sea bed that have since risen up. Now they form cliffs and caves, blowholes and aesthetically pleasing rock stacks. It was a nice hours distraction and the views were amazing, but it had nothing on what we would do next.

Our next campsite was a Freedom camping spot at Fox River, just a small gravel carpark next to a river, across the road from the beach and the starting point for our first proper hike. Yes, we’d been in New Zealand for several months at this point without completing a hike longer than two hours. To be completely fair this one was only going to take five hours at the most but we had to start somewhere, right? Our final destination was the ballroom overhang, to get there all we had to do was follow the trail markers.

At first the trail was easy, a well worn route through the vibrant green forrest and although a few patches were muddy and slippery it was mostly on the flat, then we came across a sign… I can’t remember the exact wording but a definite “You’re on your own now, idiot, are you sure you’re up for this” vibe was given. Not wanting to give up on the first hurdle, we grabbed ourselves some handy sticks for support and carried on our way.

Some parts of the trail were easy, fording the river multiple times was no issue with both of us kitted out in our adventure sandals - this seemed more of a pain for those in proper hiking boots who had to remove them and hobble across the rocky river bed. We slowly wended our way up the mountainside, crossing small waterfalls and clambering over rockfall before making our way back down to the valley below where we’d wade into the freezing cold river, the cliff faces bordering our path. What I found the hardest was the places where the trail had mostly fallen away, victim of a past landslip and all that kept me from joining the mud and rocks below was a small strip of path and my unreliable ability to balance. Mostly, the track was fine and we made it to our destination in good time.

Sheltered away from the river and valley by a copse of trees, the Ballroom overhang is an impressive space created by the adjacent cliff face curving over to provide shelter. The ceiling soars overhead, the different age of the rocks showing in every graduation of the overhang, it was beautiful and worth the journey. It was also very difficult to photograph, all my photos seemed to shrink the space making it seem entirely unimpressive. We did however get some nice videos from the walk, click the link here to give it a watch!!

Not being a circular walk, when we’d had our fill of the ballroom it was time to head back the way we came… but it didn’t seem as daunting when we knew what obstacles we’d face, even if some of those obstacles still got my heart racing. When we finally made it back to the van we were exhausted, never had I been so happy that we travel with our little home, and after we had a cup of tea we both had a well deserved nap.

When we woke the next morning, Fox River was having their weekly market and lucky for us it was just in the next field. There was a range of stalls, locally made produce, greenstone jewellery, art and one single stall selling fruit and veg. We came away richer in courgettes and salad but poorer in money, we would have brought more but the person ahead of us pretty much cleared out the stall. Not in any rush to leave the rest of our time here was spent relaxing, swimming in the chilly waters of the river and playing bat and ball on the beach. Eventually our allowed time to stay was over and we had to move on.

Trip Date: Feb 2023

Next up : Glacier hunting at Franz Joseph and Fox Glaciers