Dunollie Ranch Hotel Greymouth

... the cheaper option is to get a boat to take you part way along the track and then walk back to the start again. That is what we planned to do, but when we got to the water taxi place that morning, there wasn't enough space on the boat (despite them telling us the night before that there would be and if there is more than one boatful, they just put on another boat!). The lady persuaded is that we should just walk part of the path and then get the boat ...

... Southern Alps start to appear. There is some morning mist clearing quickly in the sunshine which provides a lovely accompaniment. The road then follows the Buller River Gorge which winds its way through these mountains in spectacular fashion with some of the road having been cut out of vertical cliffs on the side.

Eventuall the road reaches the coast and just outside of Westport is the Tauranga Bay which was perfectly positioned for lunch and allowed a quick ...

The threat of rain seemed in the distance this morning. There were a few clouds around but mainly blue sky - so much for the wet west coast we thought... Off for a quick breakfast at MacDonalds to fortify us for the short drive to Shantytown - which is an reconstructed gold-mining town built near an original gold-mining town. $62 for a family pass here, but we did spend almost 4 hours ...

This morning, my friend Grace and I woke up early and went for a walk. We took a hiking trail along the river that is a minimum of 3 hours; however, since we didn't have 3 hours, we just walked for a while and then turned back. Then, we met everyone for breakfast and had pancakes and eggs on the balcony of the hostel overlooking the ocean. Next, Grace and ...

19/02/09: Je prends le train a Greymouth jusqu a Arthur's Pass, un petit village isole au coeur des montagnes... Juste pour vous expliquez un petit truc: Prendre le train en Nouvelle-Zelande, ca n'a rien a voir avec un trajet en TGV en France, c'est bien plus cahotique... En effet, ici le transport ferroviere n est pas du tout developpe. Et quand on prend le train, on se ...

... was paua shell) but its still really nice and shiny like paua, just not as blue/purple/green...just pinky white!!! and i also made a couple of beach creations, with the flat stones i made 3 stone stacks and then i collected tons of white pebbles and wrote a message in the sand for Andrew's birthday card (managed to make it into a moonpig card for him!) - hope he likes it when he opens it tomo!!! i then walked up the hill to pancake rocks! this was a really nice ...

... sight nonetheless! The Pancake Rocks that Punakaiki is famous for, are limestone formations that began forming 30 million years ago, when lime-rich fragments of dead marine creatures were deposited on the seabed, then overlaid by weaker layers of soft mud and clay. The seabed was raised above sealevel by earthquakes to ...

... along the coastal track. This was an easier walk but gave us some great views over the cliffs and bays on the west coast. Towards the end of the track we came to a seal colony. I know there are loads of seals in the World, but it's great to see them in their own environment, just lounging around on the rocks. Really cool. We then arrived at our overnight accommodation in Barrytown, the All Nations Pub. As we approached, there were a load of bikers outside, drinking and just ...

... a pub (where we stay), a few houses and lots of cows serving the 40 very unique west-coasters that live there! We went down to the beach to look for greenstone which sometimes washes up there - Stephanie the German even found some! Thumper had built us up to the tradition of Barrytown in the Stray tour - basically a team building night on the Stray Camp where you "HAVE" to dress up and get drunk! It feels so forced but who am I to argue - the theme ...