Hokitika and Hokitika Gorge
About that trip to the glowworm cave … the rains came. Our guide decided to defer the trip until this evening, so we’ll see if the weather cooperates.
We started the morning with a nice semi-continental breakfast provided by our hosts. After that Kelly and I took a walk through town and to the beach, before leaving on the bus for Hokitika Gorge.
I think this just about sums it up.
Our bus driver said it's too dangerous for surfing.
I can understand the attraction of living on the beach in a semi-tropical environment (half the year), with this view of the mountains.
We got back from our walk in time to jump on the bus to Hokitika Gorge.
Impossible to convey in a photo. But the water really is that color.
The walk would have been a circle, but this suspension bridge still isn't in service. It's a short out-and-back to this point, and a longer out-and-back around to the other end of the bridge. The earlier pictures are from the longer walk, which we did first. It's longer, but not very long -- between 1 and 2 km.
In the evening we did make it to the glow worm dell. We had a walk of perhaps a half hour out of town and down a road, with the main features being more large gas stations than make any sense (so it must really be a tourist destination in the summer) and a lack of traffic.
My best attempt to capture the glow worms. For photography folks, this was a four second exposure with no tripod at a ridiculous ISO 128,000.
Another 4s, ISO 128,000 photo, pointed straight up. You can see we're not in a cave, just an area of heavy trees. You can see a bit of sky above -- I'm pretty sure that's Orion's belt -- and a few glow worms in lower right.
Later I tried to get a decent picture of the night sky, but this is what happens when you’re in a hurry in the dark, in the cold. I accidentally turned on a 4s delay, so Kelly and I stuck our heads in the picture thinking the long exposure was complete.
Accidental abstract art.