Everyone said we would enjoy Hokitika and we did…it’s a low key seaside town with some nice restaurants and bars, and the motel we stayed in was spotless, spacious and modern. “Hoki” even has a bike shop. We had dinner one night from items bought at the supermarket, and then had dinner the second night at one of the many restaurants in the center of town.
The beach has fanciful driftwood sculptures and a concrete armchair where we sat. For a small town it has a lot of charm and personality.
We are riding on the west coast of South Island, known for its rain. Also, if you look at it on a map, it’s obvious that it’s divided by a faultline, the kind that causes earthquakes. It’s called the Alpine Fault.
It’s clear from this photo from space too! We are riding on the top sliver that does not have snow in the below photo.
We left Hokitika using the last part of the West Coast Wilderness trail, which continued to Ross. We were sad that the lovely paths ended and we had to now share the road with vehicles.
Ross has an historic hotel named the Empire Hotel, where we stopped for a coffee. We met some bike tourists doing the TA route in reverse, stopping in Nelson where they live.
That night, we stopped and camped in Hari Hari, or Harihari, depending on which map you look at. Its odd that so many place names have a word repeated, but it seems quite common here. The campsite was basic, but it had the benefit of having a restaurant/bar and allowing campers to use a hotel room for showers, etc. Met some interesting people there. Chris got to chatting with 2 ladies who were dairy farmers, one who worked on a farm and one who owned one. Chris said they were charming but “rough” and obviously worked hard for a living.
Leaving Harihari, we rode to Franz Josef, the mountains growing as we headed towards them. The last miles were on a forest path, a welcome relief from 35 miles of pavement.
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