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| Hokatika: Is It A Hospital Or A Hostel? |
Our destination for the night was Hokitika, a coastal town of 1,000 where we had arranged to meet friends; Paul, Nicola and baby Arthur, also itinerant Bristolians.
Notable for two large brick built churches amongst a forest of weatherboard walls and corrugated iron roofs, we booked into the hill top Sea View campsite and a surreal but thoroughly pleasant experience.
Situated in a disused hospital and utilising both the grounds and the buildings, the entrepreneurial owners had undertaken a partial conversion that had yet to extend to removing the all the hospital beds and medical equipment. The wards were still in place and you could not shake the feeling that patients continued to roam the corridors in some Stephen King homage, in search of some long departed doctor.
The owners were friendly and hospitable but had family in Christchurch and were packing food and blankets to drive the night roads on a mercy mission.
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| The Church In Hokitika. |
Our destination for the night was Hokitika, a coastal town of 1,000 where we had arranged to meet friends; Paul, Nicola and baby Arthur, also itinerant Bristolians.
Notable for two large brick built churches amongst a forest of weatherboard walls and corrugated iron roofs, we booked into the hill top Sea View campsite and a surreal but thoroughly pleasant experience.
Situated in a disused hospital and utilising both the grounds and the buildings, the entrepreneurial owners had undertaken a partial conversion that had yet to extend to removing the all the hospital beds and medical equipment. The wards were still in place and you could not shake the feeling that patients continued to roam the corridors in some Stephen King homage, in search of some long departed doctor.
The owners were friendly and hospitable but had family in Christchurch and were packing food and blankets to drive the night roads on a mercy mission.
We helped to load the supplies and waved them off, remaining the only people in the 30 acre complex that came fully equipped with a school, chapel of rest, wards, accomodation and a water tower. Last furnished in the early seventies, the place was a treasure trove of retro-collectibles.
After dinner and the first wine of the trip, we took torches into the darkness and, accompanied by the wind and the crash of the surf on the beach close by, we sought out the glow worms that occupied a small cleft in the hill a few hundred metres away. A local point of interest, Hokitika had not exploited them as Waitomo had and the wonder was more enthralling, uncontaminated as it was by commercial pressures.
After dinner and the first wine of the trip, we took torches into the darkness and, accompanied by the wind and the crash of the surf on the beach close by, we sought out the glow worms that occupied a small cleft in the hill a few hundred metres away. A local point of interest, Hokitika had not exploited them as Waitomo had and the wonder was more enthralling, uncontaminated as it was by commercial pressures.
It was a strange and melancholic day that I suspect will continue to influence both our time here and our memories of the place, not least because our departure for Sydney is scheduled from Christchurch in 5 days’ time.
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