Day 21

We got up around 7:30 and began packing up. At 10:30 we were ready to go, except Sue didn’t agree – her battery was flat! Half an hour of phone calls and we were jump started by Elana and off we went. With the sun popping out we arrived at Hokitika. After some food we went window shopping at a glass blowers and the multiple jade stores. The jade stores were all similar but the glass blowers had great designs and animals. We explored the town and Marianne played Pokemon Go, leading us to an old ship by the sea. Back in Sue we began looking at the walking tracks. First we stopped at a very short and muddy track with a large wheelbarrow, next was Hokitika Gorge, with a river normally turquoise but was washed out by the rain. An hour of driving got us to Dorathey falls and further to Canoe Cove walk. This was a nice walk that brought us to Lake Kaniere where we skipped some rocks and kept going. Back at Hokitika we had Chinese for dinner then went down the road to Rimu for one last walk and to see a glowworm dell.

The walk showed a few mining sites and the location of the dell, through a little hole right next to the roadside, but didn’t take very long so we waited for night to return to the dell. While waiting a man in  a black car playing great music drove into the car park to enjoy the view. He introduced himself as John and offered if we would like to stay at his place for the night. We agreed it’d be good to park there, and turned down sleeping in a bed (we missed sleeping in Sue!). We followed back to John’s house which was grand with a wetland and four cats. Knowing where we’d sleep, we went back to the dell. It was spectacular! Dozens of glowworms nestled in the mossy wall and ferns. Compelled we drove to the other dell near Hokitika, but on the way got a little to caught up in the radio music, and was flashed down by the police for speeding… Arriving at the second dell, with more tourists around, the glowworms here were even more abundant (I preferred the first dell as it seemed more like a secret place). Drove back to John’s place and went to sleep.

Entree Written By Jack