Hokitika

Hokitika is a municipality on the west coast of New Zealand's South Island. During the census of 2006, the city had 3078 inhabitants ( were added about 1400 inhabitants in the environment ). Hokitika is located in the West Coast region and is the administrative seat of the Westland District. The town is located about 40 kilometers south of Greymouth near the mouth of the Hokitika River.

Geography

The town of Hokitika is located in the extreme north of the Westland District on the South Island of the Pacific state. As almost the entire west coast of the island is also the area around Hokitika extremely isolated from the rest of the country. This particular situation results from the fact that the area to the west of the Tasman Sea and the immediate east is bounded by the Southern Alps. To the south, the region is sparsely populated, but in the north there are other larger towns, of which the most significant is the capital of the West Coast, Greymouth. Hokitika itself is directly adjacent to the Tasman Sea. About eight miles to the north opens the Arahura River into the adjacent sea. South of Hokitika is followed by two small lakes: While the Surrounded by snow-capped peaks Lake Kaniere mainly for swimming but is also suitable for water skiing, is operated on the adjacent Lake Mahinapua also sailing.

Due to the concentrated location west of the Southern Alps, the climate of Hokitika is characterized by a - from high annual rainfall of 2764 millimeters on average - even for New Zealand conditions. In addition to the characteristic attitude, this fact is due to the Roaring Forties: due, a strong west wind zone at the level of 40 ° south latitude, ( German Roaring Forties ). During October, with an average of 277 mm to about 17 days of rain the wettest month, falling in June an average of only 203 mm of rainfall, as a whole, however, the rain is distributed relatively evenly across all months. The highest temperatures are reached usually in February; the average temperature is 15.1 ° C this month, while it is only in July at 6.9 ° C.

History

The history of the community Hokitika is still relatively young: The village was founded in 1864 as a gold mining town and put one of the centers of the gold rush in Westland dar. trouble was it east to the large neighboring town of the Southern Alps, since most mined gold directly from the port was shipped from Hokitika to Melbourne and usually no detour was made over the mountains to Christchurch. Two years after its foundation in 1866, was one of Hokitika with more than 6000 inhabitants of the largest settlements in what was then New Zealand and acted since 1873, even as the capital of the newly created province of West Country, to this form of administrative divisions were abolished in 1876. Thus, the town experienced a severe loss of meaning and, consequently, a steady population decline.

Economy

The main economic activities were for decades the processing of Pounamu (English: Green Stone), a special type of jade as well as forestry and mining, which mainly coal, and gold. Throughout the last century about lost these industries but mostly important, what the negative population balance in recent years explains. In recent years, however, the town is regaining importance because it has become a major stop for tourists in the West Coast region. The town is especially popular with ecotourists. In addition, the dairy industry is an important sector of the community. The Westland Milk Products has a monopoly. The catchment area of the dairy, which exports most of its production, extends over almost the entire northern west coast.

Infrastructure

Located on the infrastructure relatively poorly developed west coast of New Zealand's South Island Hokitika is relatively well connected to the national road and rail network. Thus, the State Highway 6 leads in a north-south direction right through the village, which leads to the area around the Haast Pass and the Te Wahipounamu World Heritage Site by UNESCO in southern Westland. In the 1890s, the Hokitika Branch, a branch line of the Midland railway line was inaugurated by Greymouth to Hokitika from. In the following decades, the line was expanded and extended. In 1967, passenger services were set. Since then, the railway line is only used for freight.