With West Coast-Tasman MP Damien O'Connor alongside, and a scrum of television cameras in tow, the Prime Minister's visit came less than 24 hours after his Minister for Regional Development Kieran McAnulty announced the government was contributing $2 million towards a new library and commercial development in Greymouth.
But Mr Hipkins made no mention of the funding gift.
His day started in Hokitika at Poutini Waiora's Kai Puku agency, which takes excess food from supermarkets and makes it available to community organisations for redistribution to where it is needed.
While there, Mr Hipkins helped package up a box of frozen food for families in need.
The cost of living crisis was top of mind.
The rain set in as the entourage of 30 officials and media moved up the road to Greymouth to get a look inside the Pounamu Pathway. Media interviews were moved twice due to the noise of rain on the roof, finally into the exhibition hall at the new tourist attraction.
Acting chief executive Toko Kapea took the Prime Minister from the newly-glazed entrance building, into the main exhibition hall, with its curving walls and towering ceilings, and showed where a giant model of chief Tūhuru would go -- one of the largest ever made by Weta Workshop, which is fitting out the exhibition with local Poutini Ngāi Tahu stories told in high-tech.
Mr O'Connor, Minister of Agriculture, noted the insulation that helped soundproof the building was made of wool.
It was then time for the daily media interview - Mr Hipkins noted the PGF contribution of $17 million to the fitout of the Pounamu Pathway project, although Makaawhio and Ngāti Waewae are funding the Greymouth complex themselves.
Then it was into the election questions. Under National, "thousands would be out of work before Christmas", he claimed, using words such as "credibility" and "trust".
Labour was down in the polls but would bounce back with a good campaign, he said - twice.
NZ First leader Winston Peters, who has bounced back in the pools, was a "force for chaos" Mr Hipkins said.
Despite stiff opposition on the West Coast, he said Labour remained committed to former prime minister Jacinda Ardern's promise of "no new mines" on conservation land, but acknowledged there were still things to work through, including Ngāi Tahu access to pounamu and the stewardship land review.
"It remains the Labour Party policy."
It would not be a ministerial trip to the West Coast without reference to this being the birthplace of the Labour Party, and Mr Hipkins let Mr O'Connor answer this.
Mr O'Connor said people should look at the development going on in Greymouth, and said the region was bouncing back after Covid.
Mr O'Connor was then grilled by media for his role as Associate Transport Minister over asking for more information before rubber-stamping bilingual road signs, though he took it all in his stride.
The party then headed to lunch at Seven Penny Café, hoping for a taste of whitebait, after it was sold out in Hokitika.
After lunch there was a stop in Runanga to meet 91-year-old Labour supporter Nan Dixon.
They also checked out the Runanga Miners' Hall - known for its ties to the union movement - before a trip to the $40m new visitor centre being built at Punakaiki.
During his West Coast visit, Mr Hipkins re-announced $22m of work to improve the resilience of Coast roads that have been affected by recent extreme weather.
That was nothing new, however. It was first announced on August 31.
