Gold Fever in Hokitika - Roadside Stories

A Manatū Taonga audio guide to Hokitika. Check out the Ministry for Culture and Heritage's audio guide in the image carousel above.

After gold was discovered in 1864 a lively town sprang up at Hokitika. Within a few months it had 5,000 residents and 72 hotels. However, its port was dangerous, and many ships met their end on the bar at the river mouth. When the gold rush finished, Hokitika dwindled – though since 1990 its Wildfoods Festival has been popular with daring eaters.

Hokitika,
http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/west-coast-places/12

Wrecks at Hokitika River mouth, 1866,
http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/shipwrecks/3/2

Gold and gold mining,
http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/gold-and-gold-mining

Eating huhu grubs,
http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/insects-overview/8/2/3

Johann Franz Julius von Haast,
http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/1h1

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Roadside Stories is a series of audio guides that follow major road trips in New Zealand. The stories cover the places you’ll pass along the way – their people, their history, their cultural and natural significance. For more information about Roadside Stories visit http://www.mch.govt.nz/roadside/