Apparently, all it takes to stun us is a simple recipe of rock flour, melted glacier ice, and river water.
Those are the ingredients which create the incredible milky turquoise blue water we found at the Hokitika Gorge earlier this week.
The Hokitika Gorge should be on everyone’s must-see list, but funny enough, it isn’t marked by any of the hundreds of big brown tourist site signs in New Zealand, and it wasn’t mentioned in any of the guidebooks we used for research. The only reason we even knew about the gorge was a couple of lines we found on a New Zealand tourist website about Hokitika Gorge being “pretty.” Talk about an understatement.
We had no idea what to expect but were enjoying our walk through the lush green arched tunnels of vegetation, when we got to the first lookout point and saw that water.
The only other time we had seen anything even close to it was last summer at Plitvice National Park in Croatia. But, in Plitvice, we were competing with hundreds of people for a view or a photo and here we had the entire park to ourselves. It was incredible!
The park has a really nice route to hike allowing you to get several vantage points too. You walk through thick forest until your sightline opens up and you are able to see the river.
In order to cross the gorge, they have a swaying footbridge which provides an amazing view of the river below.
Towards the end of the short trek, you can also walk down to the black sand beach and feel the water which is surprisingly warm considering it is fed partially by a glacier.
Before I was able to make it to the water though, I was caught up by the black sand which is almost fluffy, and it is unlike any sand I’ve ever seen.
Add this to your must-visit list of things to do on the South Island!
