There is no such thing as bad weather....

 There is no such thing as bad weather….

This post is sponsored by ACH Consulting Ltd whose umbrellas and beanies have stood up to the West Coast weather admirably!! 

FRIDAY 11 APRIL 2025 - WEDNESDAY 23 APRIL 2025

Having both read Eleanor Catton’s, The Luminaries, we were looking forward to finally getting to Hokitika - gold and greenstone country. 

The local iwi, Ngāi Tahu, are the guardians of the Nephrite Jade (Greenstone) in this area and although you are not allowed to take any from the rivers, you are allowed to keep any that you find on the beach. We knew there was a river before Hokitika called the Arahura River which is supposed to be VERY greenstone rich and before that there is a beach called Serpentine Beach where a lucky rock hound could possibly find a piece of this precious stone. The beach is obviously named because there is an abundance of the rock, Serpentine, there.

This is where it gets tricky as Serpentine is also a green rock but it is not Nephrite Jade and it is quite difficult to tell the two apart. The Maori term of Pounamu does in fact include other forms of green stones such as Bowenite and Serpentine, but most commonly refers to Nephrite Jade and this is what we were after when we stopped at Serpentine Beach. We had been told that a piece of Jade would feel heavier than a comparable sized rock, it would feel waxy and if you held a torch under it you could see light through the narrow parts of it so we were pretty prepared.

This beach is not a well kept secret and there were a lot of other people walking the beach, stopping, picking up serpentine, discarding it and we were keen to join them. The beach is absolutely littered with ‘green’ stones. Within minutes we both had handfuls of……serpentine, but gosh it looked just like the jade until it dried out a bit. We had not gone that far along the beach when a beautiful piece of the REAL McCoy found Dave. Once you have a piece of Nephrite Jade - Pounamu - Greenstone in your hand you realise that anything else is just a green stone. We met a dinkum, bearded, West Coast old timer on the beach who knew a lot about collecting this stone and he congratulated Dave on becoming the owner of such a beautiful piece. He was also a bit upset that he hadn’t spotted it himself.

The beautiful Nephrite Jade - Pounamu - Greenstone that found Dave.

We may not have caught any trout or found any gold but we have ticked Greenstone off our to do list.

On a bit of a high we headed off to Hokitika. We had booked into the Hokitika Kiwi Holiday Park and Motels which is only six years old and boy what a treat it was to spend time in such a well thought out place.  A short bike ride to the sea and the town and easy access to the bike trails. We knew we were in for some pretty gnarly weather so didn’t waste too much time getting out and exploring. Lots of historic buildings in the town made it easy to imagine what it must have been like in the time of the Luminaries. There is a monument to shipwrecks at the river mouth and apparently at the height of the gold rush there were approximately 10 ships, wrecked a week!! 

As well as cycling out to Lake Kaniere, one of the rides we did also took us over the Hokitika River on a VERY long bridge. The ride over required some concentration but we had a tail wind - which meant the ride back across the bridge, with a head wind, was a little more challenging. 

Span across the Hokitika River!!

We then got some of the wind and rain that had been battering the North Island and as we sat inside the Beast we realised that although our Certificate of Fitness (CoF) was not due until early May, we may not be anywhere near a town that was big enough to be able to issue us with a new one. 

So before heading to our next stop we backtracked to the VTNZ in Greymouth to get our CoF, stopping once again to try our luck for Greenstone at Serpentine Beach on our way. Unfortunately this time all we got was a sore neck from looking down but we did get our CoF which was almost as exciting. On Sue and Darryl's recommendation we did, however, call in at a renowned pie shop that has been in Greymouth since 1892. Blanchfield's pies really are amazing and well worth stopping for!!

Lake Mahinapua was our next destination which is only about 20 kms south of Hokitika. As we passed through Hokitika once again we stopped to fill up the Beast and swap a gas bottle and once again were amazed at the service you get in the South Island. Unlocked petrol bowsers and someone raced out to help me with the gas bottle. 

One of the sad things that is prevalent in both Islands is the amount of rubbish that is tossed out of travellers' windows. Being higher up in the cab of the Beast I get a bird’s eye view of all the soft drink bottles, alcohol cans, V bottles, take away containers etc that litter the sides of the state highways. So sad.

Lake Mahinapua

At the lake we were staying in the DoC camp and it was a little bit alarming to see that the facility blocks were taped off and closed as there was a water pump issue at the camp. We are fully self contained so we knew we would be okay but we had booked in for four days thinking we would be able to use the facilities. Good old DoC though - they had the issue fixed and the toilets open in time for the Easter break. 

Doc has put in some really magnificent walks at Lake Mahinapua so we got started on them before the weather hit again. We did the Jum Michel track which very conveniently came out at the Mahinapua Pub, which very inconveniently didn’t open until 3:00 pm so we carried on down to the beach instead. Finally a West Coast beach that had sand and wasn’t littered with stones AND there were even shells.

We had actually intended to have lunch at the pub but with lightning speed we changed our plans and decided to have dinner instead and take torches with us so we could do the Jum Michel track again ... .but at night.

The rain had started before we headed off for dinner but the walk to the pub was through a tree covered glade so we didn’t get too wet. Such a quaint old pub that served up some beautiful blue cod and chips and meant that the sun was well gone by the time we started our walk home.

Going through the Jum Michel track was even more amazing at night. We had hoped to see a kiwi. Unfortunately that didn’t happen but we did see Glow Worms.

The bird life in all of the walks has included Bell Birds and lots of Fantails. The Fantails are so cheeky they flit right under your nose and stop on the path in front of you. The Maori name, Piwakawaka totally sounds like the way they move, they are all over the place. This really is the Fantail capital of New Zealand.

After a couple of VERY wet days (not as bad as the weather up North or in Auckland though) we headed to the White Heron capital of New Zealand. We arrived in Franz Josef in pouring rain but luckily it buttoned off enough for us to have a wander around the town and get our bearings. We were incredibly surprised at how busy the town was, wall to wall motorhomes and tourists everywhere - I guess that happens when you arrive in a tourist hotspot at Easter.

The next day we woke to brilliant sunshine and decided to head out for a bike ride. The first thing we noticed was the amount of helicopter traffic. The main street has a gazillion different places offering helicopter flights to the glacier. At one point we counted FIVE helicopters in the air at one time. The thought of being part of all that air traffic did not appeal to me, I am sure they are VERY safe but I was very happy to wait and bike up to the Glacier.

Franz Josef has some really neat, easy to get to walks and cycle paths and we have spent our time here taking advantage of quite a few of them. Luckily the weather has played ball!! We have only seen two Kea - and that was in our campground but we have had a very personable South Island Tomtit introduce itself to us - they are almost as cheeky as the fantails. Our first bike ride took us over the Bailey bridge and followed along the banks of the Waiho River, with the sun shining and the constant thrum of helicopter blades it was quite beautiful, if not a little noisy. It took us to a sign that announced we were at the base of Canavons Knob - so we had to knock that bugger off!!

Having stashed the bikes we headed off on a walk to The Tatare Tunnels and Callery Gorge. We did manage to get all the way to the Tunnels but only Dave was brave enough to go through the tunnel that was approximately 500 mtrs long. It was cramped and quite water logged and we hadn’t taken a torch so I let him enjoy the glowworms all by himself. This walk involved quite a lot of uphill so we finished the day thinking we may have overdone it!

The next day we followed the easy cycle way from the town, going over the Bailey bridge again and up to the carpark at the foot of the Franz Josef Glacier. We left the bikes in the best bike shelter we had ever seen and joined the throng heading up to the point where you could get a glimpse of the glacier. The closest you can get is approximately 3 kms as the Glacier continues to retreat - but it was still quite a good photo opportunity.

Today is my 65th birthday and Vincey’s 6th birthday. It is a beautiful day in Franz Josef and we are having a relaxed day waiting for our dinner out. What a great part of the country to officially become an OAP!