Clock Tower at Hokitika's main intersection.
Quaint lunch stop in downtown Hokitika.
The Coffee Car from the Cafe de Paris.
Hokitika is a Te Reo Maori word, which when translated into English it means 'place of return', in which it was given this name for its riches in jade (pounamu). Founded on gold mining in 1864, it was a center of the West Coast Gold Rush. By late 1866 it was one of the country's most populous areas.
In the downtown museum we visited there is a picture taken in 1867 of 41 Vessels alongside the wharf at Hokitika, in some places three and four deep. In 1867 the port of Hokitika ranked first in New Zealand in both the number of Vessels entered inwards and in the total value of exports (gold). The population has declined greatly since that time but the population of the Westland District is now on the rise thanks to "lifestyle inhabitants".
We considered our stop in Hokitika a "lay day". We were able to relax at the Rimu Lodge, visit with the proprietress, Helen Walls.
It seems that Helen has lived all over New Zealand and is not only a great hostess but a wealth of information, providing several facts for our blog posts.
She arranged for dinners at two really great restaurants and made us feel welcome in her "home".
We took more pictures of the Lodge in the afternoon before an evening at one of Helen's restaurant recommendations.
GREAT NEWS!
We have learned that the washed out roadway and bridge south has been repaired. This closure has created havoc throughout the South Island. All transportation stopped and such things as milk deliveries from the farm regions to the northern part were severely disrupted.
This means we are on our way to the glacier region....
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