The Wild West Coast

The West Coast of the South Island has long stretches of remote mountain forests and wilderness, cascading rivers flowing down from the glaciers of Mount Cook and other peaks, a few small villages tucked into the valleys, and a glimpse of what New Zealand used to be. We drove from Wanaka to Hokitika. We crossed the Alps on the Haast Pass, then turned north up the coast. The first stop was the Blue Pools, near the pass. This is glacier water. We also went to the Hokitika Gorge, which is also turquoise glacier water flowing down directly from the glaciers. The mountain peaks are not far from the ocean. It’s beautiful to see the snow caps from the beaches.

We drove past Fox Glacier and Frank Joseph Glacier, and stayed for two nights in an airbnb farmhouse in the tiny town of Whataroa. From there, we went to Okarito, which is an even tinier settlement right on the ocean. We hiked up for a viewpoint at sunset. There are kiwis living here, and we were hoping to see one, but it didn’t happen.

Our airbnb host, Madeleine, told us that she saw a kiwi here last year. She’s lived here her whole life, though, and it only happened once. Madeleine also showed us her dairy farm, which she runs with her husband Ian. A real mom and pop operation.

Taking Care of the Cows

Hokitika

Hokitika is a small town on the central coast. It is far far away from the buzz and glamor of Wanaka and Queenstown. Just a small town with not much to do. We spent four nights here and were just about locals. A great revelation to me is that most, if not all, of the small NZ towns have a squash court. It’s not hard to find the keeper of the key, and the courts are a perfect place for juggling. I got the key to this one from Barry, who owns the Gold Room, a jewelry shop. When I went to return it, he told me to just hang on to it until I was going to leave town. That way, I could use the court whenever I wanted.

Owen and Pina were our airbnb hosts. They came over one evening for wine and snacks, and we spent a couple of hours talking with them. Owen wanted to take me fishing. The next day he showed up with his pole, and we walked to Sunset Point, five minutes from our house. We didn’t catch any fish, but it was fun.

We stayed in a little cottage one block from the beach. For us, the beach was the major attraction of the town. A little coastal getaway. The beach is full of driftwood, and Hokitika is kind of known for its driftwood sculptures. It even has a driftwood festival, which we just missed by a couple of weeks. Some of the sculptures were still up though, tempting wind, waves, and time.

The reason for traveling is to learn about the world, to see life from other perspectives, and to to build bridges and connections between cultures and people. The west coast is a perfect place for all of these. The relaxed pace and the friendliness are apparent everywhere we look. We also think about the way things were versus the way things are. We think of our friend Jan, who was here in Enzed (NZ) in the early 1970’s, before the tourists. She hiked on the tracks and was the only one there. Now, it’s a parade and you need a reservation. We met a fellow here from California who lived here from 1968 until 1978. He lamented how the old-time pubs were all gone, and how Queenstown had become an unlivable behemoth. We think about ourselves. Monica and I met forty seven years ago (!!) on Kauai. There were no sidewalks, just sand, in Kapaa. We slept on the beaches, and hitchhiked. We had to wait a long time for a car, but it was easy to get a ride. Now, there are traffic jams and almost nobody picks you up.

Everything is different now. But that’s all, just different. When we were twenty, people in their seventies would tell us that life used to be much better. Older people have always said that to younger people. Well, it has changed. Travel is no longer a test of endurance, with a week-long trip through the untamed west in a stagecoach. The world is different now. But it is not ruined. It still is fun to travel, there still is lots to learn, and there still are bridges to be built.