Hokitika Gorge and the surrounding Hokitika Gorge Scenic Reserve are a major tourist destination some or 40 minutes drive inland from
Hokitika
Hokitika is a town in the West Coast region of New Zealand's South Island, south of Greymouth, and close to the mouth of the Hokitika River. It is the seat and largest town in the Westland District. The town's estimated population is as of .
...
, New Zealand. Since August 2020, a second suspension bridge over the
Hokitika River
The Hokitika River is in the West Coast of the South Island of New Zealand. It is about long, beginning in the Southern Alps, emerging from the narrow Hokitika Gorge after merging with the Whitcombe River, and flowing into the Tasman Sea just ...
at the gorge provides the opportunity for a round track.
Location
The Hokitika Gorge was ground out of granite by the
Hokitika River
The Hokitika River is in the West Coast of the South Island of New Zealand. It is about long, beginning in the Southern Alps, emerging from the narrow Hokitika Gorge after merging with the Whitcombe River, and flowing into the Tasman Sea just ...
.
The gorge is a 40-minute drive of inland from Hokitika, located in the
South Island
The South Island, also officially named , is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand in surface area, the other being the smaller but more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman ...
's West Coast.
History
Māori people
The Māori (, ) are the indigenous Polynesian people of mainland New Zealand (). Māori originated with settlers from East Polynesia, who arrived in New Zealand in several waves of canoe voyages between roughly 1320 and 1350. Over several ce ...
crossed the
Southern Alps
The Southern Alps (; officially Southern Alps / Kā Tiritiri o te Moana) is a mountain range extending along much of the length of New Zealand's South Island, reaching its greatest elevations near the range's western side. The name "Southern ...
from the headwaters of the
Rakaia River
The Rakaia River is in the Canterbury Plains in New Zealand's South Island. The Rakaia River is one of the largest braided rivers in New Zealand. The Rakaia River has a mean flow of and a mean annual seven-day low flow of . In the 1850s, Euro ...
via Rurumataikau (later named
Whitcombe Pass after Henry Whitcombe) and reached the West Coast via Hokitika Gorge. Whitcombe and Joseph Lauper made this crossing in 1863 (Whitcombe would soon after drown on the same journey in the
Taramakau River
The Taramakau River is a river of the West Coast Region of the South Island of New Zealand. It rises in the Southern Alps / Kā Tiritiri o te Moana near Harper Pass, due east of Hokitika, and runs westward for into the Tasman Sea south of Gr ...
) searching for a suitable road link between Canterbury and the West Coast to profit from the
West Coast Gold Rush
The West Coast Gold Rush, on the West Coast of New Zealand's South Island, lasted from 1864 to 1867.
Description
The gold rush populated the area, which up until then had been visited by few Europeans. Gold was found near the Taramakau River in ...
(the route was far too challenging and soon after,
Arthur's Pass
Arthur's Pass, previously called Camping Flat then Bealey Flats, and for some time officially Arthurs Pass, is a township in the Southern Alps of the South Island of New Zealand, located in the Selwyn district. It is a popular base for explorin ...
was chosen instead). In 1865,
Julius von Haast
Sir Johann Franz Julius von Haast (1 May 1822 – 16 August 1887) was a German-born New Zealand explorer, geologist, and founder of the Canterbury Museum in Christchurch.
Early life
Johann Franz Julius Haast was born on 1 May 1822 in Bo ...
explored the Hokitika River by canoe but did not get beyond Hokitika Gorge as the river was too swift.
Gerhard Mueller, the chief surveyor for Westland, revived the discussion about a road over Whitcombe Pass in 1880 but nothing came of this.
The earliest recorded gold mining in the gorge was in 1887. In 1898, 50
possums
Possum may refer to:
Animals
* Phalangeriformes, or possums, any of a number of arboreal marsupial species native to Australia, New Guinea, and Sulawesi
** Common brushtail possum (''Trichosurus vulpecula''), a common possum in Australian urban a ...
were released to establish a fur trade. In 1900, the Westland Acclimatisation Society was given four
moose
The moose (in North America) or elk (in Eurasia) (''Alces alces'') is a member of the New World deer subfamily and is the only species in the genus ''Alces''. It is the largest and heaviest extant species in the deer family. Most adult mal ...
calves imported from Canada and these were released at the gorge. The last moose was sighted in 1914 and it is believed that they never bred.
In 1906, the Westland Acclimatisation Society applied for government support for tourism opportunities. The government responded by building a road to Hokitika Gorge. In March 1914,
William Massey
William Ferguson Massey (26 March 1856 – 10 May 1925), commonly known as Bill Massey, was a politician who served as the 19th prime minister of New Zealand from May 1912 to May 1925. He was the founding leader of the Reform Party, New Zea ...
was the first prime minister to visit the gorge and he was most impressed by the scenic beauty. The first commercial tours from Hokitika to the gorge were available from 1922.
In 1953, were gazetted by the government as a scenic reserve known as Hokitika Gorge Scenic Reserve. In 2004, Air Walkways Ltd applied for a consent for a
canopy walkway
Canopy walkways - also called canopy walks, treetop walks or treetop walkways - provide pedestrian access to a forest Canopy (biology), canopy. Early walkways consisted of bridges between trees in the canopy of a forest; mostly linked up with pl ...
at Hokitika Gorge. There was strong public opposition to the proposal and the Department of Conservation turned down the application in May 2006. Some years later, the
West Coast Treetop Walk
The West Coast Treetop Walk is a canopy walkway through mature rimu forest near Hokitika on the West Coast of the South Island of New Zealand.
The tourist attraction was built by Australian eco-tourism company 'Canopy01' in 2012 and comprises a ...
at
Lake Mahinapua
Lake Mahinapua is a shallow lake on the West Coast of New Zealand's South Island. Once a lagoon at the mouth of the Hokitika River, it became a lake when the river shifted its course. Lake Māhinapua was the site of a significant battle between ...
was instead built by Australian eco-tourism company 'Canopy01'.
Bridges
In 1924, the
Minister of Public Works
This list indicates government departments in various countries dedicated to public works or infrastructure.
See also
* Public works
* Ministry or Board of Public Works, the imperial Chinese ministry overseeing public projects from the Tang ...
,
Gordon Coates
Joseph Gordon Coates (3 February 1878 – 27 May 1943) served as the 21st prime minister of New Zealand from 1925 to 1928. He was the third successive Reform prime minister since 1912.
Born in rural Northland, Coates grew up on a cattle run ...
, promised funding for a footbridge over the gorge. But it was not until 1930 that serious moves were made to build a bridge. A
simple suspension bridge
A simple suspension bridge (also rope bridge, swing bridge (in New Zealand), suspended bridge, hanging bridge and catenary bridge) is a primitive type of bridge in which the deck of the bridge lies on two parallel load-bearing cables that ar ...
suitable to get people and livestock across the river opened in October 1933, jointly funded by the government (
NZ£
The pound (symbol £, £NZ. for distinction) was the currency of New Zealand from 1840 until 1967, when it was replaced by the New Zealand dollar. Like the pound sterling, it was subdivided into 20 shillings (abbreviation s or /) each of 12 pen ...
100) and Westland County Council (NZ£250).
This bridge still exists and is now the lower (downstream) bridge.
On 16 August 2020, the Department of Conservation opened a second suspension bridge. At , it is one of New Zealand's longest suspension bridges. It crosses the river upstream from the 1933 bridge where an island is located in the river; the bridge leads through the treetops on the island. At the same time, a new track opened that turned the previous one-way track into a loop track through Hokitika Gorge Scenic Reserve.
Tourism
Some 40,000 people visit the Hokitika Gorge per year,
making it the third-most popular tourist attraction in the Hokitika area according to
Tripadvisor.
References
{{Westland landforms
Canyons and gorges of the West Coast, New Zealand
Tourist attractions in the West Coast, New Zealand
Westland District