The CJ way Guide to hokitika glow worm dell

​

​

​

 AT A GLANCE 

​

A lovely wee (free) glow worm dell

Hokitika

5 minute walk (from parking)

Easy access (definitely one for kiddies)

Free

Best time to visit: Summer and night-time

Jandals/sandals are suitable

​

 WHERE IS THIS EXACTLY? 

​

• Coordinates of the glow worm dell : -42.765953, 170.998136

• Coordinates of parking: -42.764782, 170.999890

• The parking coordinates are for the Woodstock Hotel. From here walk down the road (4-5 minutes) and look for a small sign. You climb  through a small hole/cave in the wall (pictured above) and from there you'll be amazed by the twinkling glow worms all around you.

​

​

 best time to visit? 

​

• Evening/when it's dark!

• Glowworms tend to be more active/mate during the Summer/warmer months so typically December- March is best! 

​

​

 cj travel tips 

​

• While Jandals are suitable here, you might like to wear sneakers.

• The Woodstock Hotel allows free camping in their car park. 

• Please don't use flash photography as this can be detrimental to the glow worms

• If you take a torch, try and pack a red light one, or aim your torch at the ground! 

​

​

 cj photography tips 

​

• A tripod and a lens with a low aperture are absolute musts! We have a F1.4 Samyang lens that we use for night photography (couldn't justify the price of the Nikon equivalent).

• Take a few practice shots experimenting with shutter speeds and ISO settings until you can pick up enough detail in the frame.

• Find the brightest glow worm and manually focus on that, rotating the focus ring until the worm becomes a small but bright dot.

​

​

 what we found useful to pack 

​

​In addition to the usuals (camera gear, suitable clothing, water and food, first aid, etc.) we found the following items useful:

• Tripod; and

• Head torch that could switch to a red light setting.