Awatuna Homestead Hokitika

... off, Punakaiki and the pancake rocks.

Another stop of the day is Greymouth the last point of civilisation before we get to Lake Mahinapua. We all go round the town to get our costumes for the infamous Poo pub fancy dress party. We go into one of the charity shops where we are asked if we are off the Kiwi bus as they get people in ...

... to rain heavily (and sideways as well due to the high winds). So our evening was reduced to a trip to the food store and then dinner in our cabin... Giving us yet AGAIN time to catch up on our travelblog and postcard-writing... This might have been our first time since arriving in New Zealand that we have had proper bad weather, and it really makes sleeping so much better :D (The rain we had in Wellington was a light drizzle in comparison... :P)

... as a prisoner so brought a stripped 2 piece outfit, Daniel went as a predator and dressed as a shark and Phil went as a pirate. From Greymouth it was on to Hokitika, we stopped 10 kilometers further south at Lake Mahinapua Hotel where we met the legendary Les Lisle and the locals and had a delicious group steak meal. After dinner we all got ready for the party at Poo Pub where everybody got creative and we played drinking games and danced all night.

... anna and i looked around all the jade galleries! then went to the beach....during the day you could see what i knew to be remnants of a driftwood sculpting competition i had read about, but to anyone who didnt know, it might have looked like a bit of a warzone! there was literally tons of driftwood all along the beach as far as you could see!! some were still in the shapes they had been made into...like benches, trees and little gardens and huts! but most had been destroyed by the ...

... on a road halfway between the thrillseekers of Queenstown and the "English city" of Christchuch was not in the plan. It was the clutch, you see. The bus was brought in to Queenstown from the north by Bagginz... just, and it needed to get to the mechanics of Christchurch. The next driver going North was Skinz, and he was new. There was no way he'd get it there. Kerry, however, had over 10 years driving trucks. Big heavy, and sometimes broken ...

... glacier, east of Cook. I had a couple of hours to burn before the flight so I relaxed in town, bought myself a pie and sat on a bench and enjoyed the warm morning sun. Wow!! I now have a helicopter addiction!! What an awesome place for my first flight. The helicopter was a Hughes 500, I shared the flight with a chopper geek who said it's the Ferrari of the chopper world. Certainly a slick looking machine! The chopper was started and ready to go when the car dropped me in ...

... the coast, but didn't have much luck until Ross - a small, sleepy, ex-gold mining town - where a side track led down to the beach. By this point it was gone seven thirty and we were ready for a good meal after some strenuous walking. Unfortunately our plans were put on hold when, attempting to manouevre the van into a suitably scenic position side-on to beach views, we found ourselves with our wheels spinning and the van sinking gradually into the sand! We ...

... We passed fields with deer too, which they raise for their meat also. We traveled for a LONG way to reach the town of Greymouth clear over on the west coast, but it was all good as we had a tour of Monteith's brewery with a BBQ and lots of beer provided. Rex had been drinking that brand for a few days, so he was especially interested in going there. We booked our tour from the RV park and the brewery sent a driver in a "wee van ...

Dinsdag 6 Mei Wederom vroeg op voor de bus naar Hokitika. Ook deze keer ligt de plaats niet zo ver weg maar het kost toch de hele ochtend om daar te komen. Een mooie koffiestop onderweg was bij de bushmans cafe. Hier kon je 'possum pie' krijgen een soort pasteitje van possum. Hoewel een zielig beschermd diertje in Australie is de possum hier een 'pest' en hebben de ...

... deze oudejaarsdag onze weg zouden gaan maken naar de gletsjers.

Onderweg kwamen we een klein museum tegen, genaamd "Bushmans reserve". Hier hebben ze de grootste zandvlo ter wereld gevangen en als troffee buiten aan het museum gehangen (lol). Ze hebben er ook van alles over de 2 grootste plagen in NZ, want naast zandvlooien is er een 2e (meer serieuze) plaag: Possums. Deze beestjes (die er eigenlijk errug schattig uitzien), zijn vanuit Australie naar New ...