My mother used to say “you can tell your father is a West Coaster because when there’s rain in the air he runs around putting away all the tools, and secures the place like there’s going to be rain for days.” Bill Dove was born in Hokitika and grew up on a farm by Hou Hou Creek just north of Hoki (as he called it). My grandfather Will Dove farmed during the depression and supplemented the family income by panning for gold and working in timber mills. Going back one more generation, our great-grandfather William Dove arrived in Hokitika from Newbury, England, and found work initially in Kumara then in Ross with Ross United Mining Company. But sadly, at 30 years old he was killed in a mining accident before his son Will was born. I have the West Coast in my blood so it’s not surprising I was drawn to live by the wild coast of Taranaki. The trip to Hokitika to ride the Wilderness Trail is a pilgrimage back to the Dove family roots.
The 133km West Coast Wilderness Trail goes from Ross to Hokitika before turning inland to Lake Kaniere and up into the Arahura Valley by Milltown, then back down to Greymouth via Kumara. Several friends have ridden it and enjoyed the variety of terrain on the trail. The grade 2 ride
