Flag Inn Highpark Greymouth

... and decided to head for the west coast, an absolutely gorgeous journey of about 450kms through stunning scenery, I followed the Buller river through the Buller gorge for about 2 hours and then I hit the west coast.. Fabulous !! along twisting road past miles and miles of empty beaches overlooking the Tasman sea.<br>I made camp in a pleasent little town called Greyport, in another backpackers hostel, an old 19th century ex monastry.<br>NOW to the ...

... hills blanketed in coniferous trees continued for miles on end. Flat surface was a rarity and we passed a few tiny villages that couldn't have housed more than about 20 people each, if that. We continued towards the west coast where the plant life changed from Norway-esque vegetation to slightly sub-tropical - imagine the beaches in Pirates of the Caribbean. We then arrived in the small town of Punakaiki, a place famous for its "Pancake rocks" - layered rocks that have formed over ...

... gut, erklaert mir aber nicht, warum der Motor qualmt und nach Gummi stinkt und die Temperaturanzeige niemals anzeigt, dass der Motor zu heiss ist.. Nach 10 Minuten Pause bin ich weitergefahren und komischerweise ist beim 2. Sattel nichts passiert, obwohl dort wieder Schillder angebracht waren, die vor der Steilheit warnen. Hm. Jetzt (Donnerstag) bin ich bei meiner Bekannten und ihr Freund guckt sich gleich mein Auto an. Und ich bin nicht mehr weit davon entfernt, es zu verkaufen..

... things over and signing a host of documents that I don't really read, but making sure that we have the minimum damage waiver as we are not paying another $10 a day for this. We hop into 'Borat' and get on the road. We quickly realise why Wicked is the cheapest and the richest company as the van is a piece of ****. But it is functional and will do us for the journey ahead (despite its apparent allergy to hills). First stop after the hostel is the supermarket to ...

gotta confess by the time i left nelson i was ready to go i think i stayed a night too many mainly because of the magic bus schedule anyway this leg of the journey was scheduled to be a long one with an 8 hour drive broken up by a few stops as it happened some of the stops turned out to be quite good the pancake rocks didn't look promising to stasrt with but soon improved and were intetresting enough with the ...

... recomeçou e mais uma vez não parou durante muito tempo. De Punakaiki seguimos para Norte através do Buller Gorge (Garganta Gorge) em direcção ao Parque Nacional Abel Tasman, o caminho é espectacular e teria sido uma viagem muito mais interessante se estivesse bom tempo. De caminho, perto de Murchinson, parámos para ver a ponte suspensa mais longa da Nova Zelândia, para além de longa, esta revelou-se uma autêntica ...

... trips in New Zealand. Not exactly economies of scale to be achieved there. The trip over was very damp. Rain and cloud obscured most of the view, so I'll save the info for the ride back. The commentator himself was as bitter as a pint of London Pride. Some comments were funny, but he added extra comments about social flaws that perhaps had no place on the train (eg satellite dishes on houses in a town we passed - he believed the library would be ...

... other creatures should take note - particularly the Candadian ones! We then pootled off to Punakaiki which is home to the pancake rocks (an actual rock formation rather than an exclamation of how great pancakes are) and the blow holes. The weather was still wet. We booked into the motor camp and went walking to the rocks. V impressive even in the wet. We had timed it about right with the tide being in and saw &amp; heard some amazing waves ...

... of the South Island and as it jutted inland and coastward, we caught glimpses of the Tasman Sea portion of the Pacific Ocean and more and more mountains. As sunset neared, we approached Greymouth and decided that was far enough for the day. We snapped a sunset picture, found a motel, grabbed some crackers to eat with the wine and cheese we already have and called it a night. Tomorrow's weather is supposed to be, as they call it here, "Nice." We're hoping.

... around here the sea is so rough though I'm surprised the seals would stay there!!! After a quick photo stop we were back in the coach and headed to our next stop, there was a few more of us on the bus today which was nice too, the group was all pretty cool. Our next stop was for 20 minutes at a short walk, the Truman Track, which led to a little beach, but the waves were too high to get onto it, there was also loads of disgusting froth around ...