GO NZ: Hokitika holiday highlights - what to see, do and where to stay
16 Feb, 2021 05:00 PM
7 minutes to read
Conservative estimates have the Hokitika of the gold rush-crazy 1860s being the proud owner of no less than 100 pubs. Less conservative estimates place the number closer to 200. Either way, in what was a booming population of 25,000 transient souls looking to find fortune in those rich West Coast soils, whether your pub-to-person ratio was 1:250 or 1:125, you were unlikely to have gone thirsty.
All of which can be gleaned from the history lesson that comes free when you stay at the Hokitika Fire Station Apartments, a place with a history that dates back to those gold-digging, beer-swilling days. With all those pubs 'n' people crammed together in hastily-built quarters, fire was an ever-present risk. Indeed, in an ironic divine act, the town's first fire station once burnt to the ground after a lightning strike.