Hokitika Beach: Fossicking in Westland District, West Coast

About Hokitika Beach

Hokitika Beach fronts the West Coast town at the heart of New Zealand's pounamu (greenstone) country, and beachcombers walk its grey sand and driftwood lines looking for quartz pebbles and green stones that resemble jade, especially after heavy rain or river floods push fresh stone onto the coast. All naturally occurring pounamu in the South Island belongs to Ngai Tahu, which became its legal owner and kaitiaki (guardian) in 1997, so collecting it is prohibited without the iwi's authorisation. Custom tolerates only a genuine beach find, limited to what one person can carry away by hand. Most green pebbles picked up here turn out to be lookalike stones rather than true pounamu.

Wilderness Magazine: ethical greenstone fossicking →

Quick details

Access

Permission required

Area

Westland District

Region

West Coast

Coordinates

-42.71600, 170.95800

Land & fossicking status

Permission required before fossicking

Requires landowner, operator, or agency permission before any fossicking. Do not enter without explicit authorization.

Stay inside public fossicking areas for gold panning, use hand tools only, and treat DOC reserves and national parks as closed to collecting. Pounamu (greenstone) in the South Island is owned by Ngai Tahu, and collecting it is prohibited apart from a limited beach find you can carry out by hand in one trip.

New Zealand public gold fossicking areas (NZP&M) →

Found at Hokitika Beach

• PounamuEncyclopedia →
• QuartzEncyclopedia →