Hokitika

Travel dates: 13th March to 2nd April 2021

Hokitika’s not the kind of place I’d thought it was. I guess my impression of the place mostly came from childhood family holidays when we stopped off at Hokitika on our way to places like Okarito or Lake Kaniere. Who knows whether it’s the town or if it’s me that’s changed – probably both. Turns out it’s chilled, friendly, beautiful, and has some kind of magic weather-bubble that (partly) shields it from the West Coast’s beastly weather.

But whatever the reason, I like the place. There’s a streak of creativity and oddball here that I quite like – there’s outdoor enthusiasts (think rock climbers, mountain bikers, kayakers), artists of all kinds and people who like to make cool stuff with their hands.

To me, Hokitika’s residents seemed pretty laid back, authentic, content. There’s no status anxiety in Hoki – or if there is, it’s not enough to move the needle on my Auckland-calibrated gauge. They don’t give a shit what kind of car you drive or how much money you make. And they certainly don’t try to run you over because when the red man starts flashing you’re still crossing the street, as has happened to me in Auckland. By contrast, I’ve had Hoki drivers stop their cars in the middle of the road to let me cross. There’s definitely a big contrast to Auckland, and I like it.

Why did I start here?

There’s many small reasons: I have good friends there that I wanted to catch up with; the Wild Foods Festival was happening on March 13th; I needed a staging area where I could do some fairly gnarly upgrades on my van. But importantly, travelling somewhere far away from Auckland was a great way to run full speed towards the cliff edge and jump off it with gusto, without delay or dithering. The “winging it” approach is something I stand behind firmly for this year off of mine, but getting out of Auckland required something more decisive and immutable, something to ensure that I attained escape-velocity to rip myself out of Auckland’s gravity field. Otherwise there would’ve always been “just one more thing” keeping me there – van maintenance; one more optometrist or haircut or accountant appointment; one more coffee catch-up with a friend or colleague. I needed a committed date and place as my first destination, or I’d leave too much room for fear’s two main thugs: vacillation and procrastination.

And that turned out to be a most excellent and bodacious move, one that’s turned out better than I could have possibly imagined: Hoki turned on fantastic weather. The warm & wonderful JoCo family welcomed me and made me feel at home, including me in virtually every aspect of their home life. They found me an unused neighbour’s driveway for my van, so I could pull its underbelly to pieces to install a diesel heater. Locals loaned me tools & equipment. Plumbing suppliers gave me free pipe lagging. A local engineering company fabricated metal stuff for me. And day after day there were gorgeous sunsets that seemed impossibly colourful.

I almost got too comfy – but then suddenly it was Easter, and time to head off on my solo journey.

Click on any photo to open full-screen lightbox / slideshow.