Visit Hokitika and Tree top walkway Hokitika Gorge
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Details
Visit Hokitika and Tree top walkway Hokitika Gorge.
Tree Top Walkway: 20m above the forest floor, features a 47m high tower, cantilevered section, diverse flora and fauna,
easy access for all Post walk refuel in our café.
Hokitika was first settled in 1860, after the discovery of gold on the West Coast. It was an important river port, but many
ships came to grief on the notorious ‘Hokitika Bar’ – a sandbar that shifts with every tide.
Nowadays Hokitika is known as the Cool Little Town. There are some lovely old buildings on the town’s historic walk. You’ll
also notice galleries specialising in pounamu jewellery and art works. The Arahura River, which enters the sea just north of
Hokitika, is a traditional source of pounamu (greenstone). Gold jewellers, wood turners and potters provide
Hokitika Gorge
Follow the walking track for a few minutes through dense podocarp/hardwood forest before emerging onto a viewing
platform. From here you can look down to the stunning Hokitika Gorge and out to the lush farmland of Kowhitirangi. This
part of the track is accessible for wheelchairs.
From the viewing platform, continue for another 6 minutes along the curving boardwalks and you will reach a swing bridge.
Here there are excellent views of the blue-green waters of the Hokitika River as it makes its way through the rock sided
Hokitika Gorge.
For good views further up the gorge, cross the swing bridge and when you come to the end of it turn left (straight ahead
leads to private farmland). The track continues for another 10 minutes through the bush, crossing a small bridge to a
second viewing platform that looks out to the gorge upstream of the bridge. Access to a small beach is also available here.
Be sure to take time to read the warning signs and close the gate after you.
To continue further up the gorge, return to the junction just before the platform and turn left. Curved boardwalks take you
past small waterfalls with the blue-green river glimpsed through the trees. The track continues to wind through mature
forest with river views.
Activity Info
Transfer Schedule
Departure Location
Franz Josef
Mar 3
to
Arrival Location
Greymouth