The Ashley Greymouth

... out of in his tour of NZ DVD fairly recently! And it was here that we stumbled across one of the best backpacker hostels we have ever been to! We only went there initially to swap our DVD's as it was a dedicated "spacestation" but we were soon persuaded to make it our home for the evening. The hostel manager told us that for $10 each, we got a site to park our van, breakfast included, free bubble bath to use in one of several baths, there was sky sports ...

A beautiful drive through the Wairau Valley this morning. Blue skies and rolling hills with the river constantly weaving alongside the road. The kids were fascinated by the fog rolling in through the valley and just some of the peaks of the hills popping through. Our first stop for the morning was the sleepy town of Murchison. Stepping out of the air-conditioned comfort of the truck (read WARM truck) into the coolness a 6 degree South Island morning was a ...

Dann ging es zu den Panecake Rocks, dort hab ich eine Nacht verbracht. Die Kuestenlandschaft ist besonders, weil sich naturliche Bruecken gebildet haben, und besonde Felsformationen, die von den Wellen umspuelt werden... im Lonely Planet steht, wenn man sich das waehrend der Flut anschaut weiss man das Mutter Natur der Boss ist und so wars auch.

... friends. The only shock of the day was 12 kms before Greymouth. This brown tourist sign read Something Valley turn off. The white sign underneath read No Return. Once you get in you'll never leave! Greymouth had light showers when we arrived but that did not put me off a walk with my Dad. We bought supplies, checked out Monteith's brewery and returned to the motel shattered, but with a Dopplebock beer for me.

25-02 Marahau -> Punakaiki: De dag bestond vandaag voornamelijk uit rijden. Mooie slingerweggetjes door de bergen, het ene uitzicht mooier dan het andere. Onderweg moesten we stoppen omdat er een graafmachine afgebroken werd, 10 minuten zou het duren zei de wegenbouwer. Zoals op de foto te zien is gaat iedereen de auto uit om van de omgeving te genieten. De foto is gemaakt op een "snelweg" overigens, is nog eens wat anders als zo'n schijt-lelijke betonnen ...

... dann ist es echt Brot und Wuerstchen. Kann ma beides fast durch die Bank vergessen. Da fre ich mich echt schon wieda auf Deutschland. Nach ueber 3 Monaten nur Toastbrot hat ma echt dann mal genug. Glaubet oder probieret es selbst! Was ihr auf jeden Fall auch probiren muesst, ist die Brauereitour(wie immer, falls ihr mal zu faellig nach Grezymouth hier auf der andren Seite der Welt reinschneit!).

... sights of Australia. I had great fun diving the reef, and seeing the amazing scenery of the Whitsundays and Fraser Island. It was awesome to meet Junayd and Tamsyn in Sydney, and everyone else I met and stayed with - thank you all for your amazing hospitality. But my favourite country of the two is New Zealand, probably because it was so unexpected. I didn't know anything about it until I went, yet it contains so many fantastic places and the ...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD !!! <br><br>The "old-man" had a real breakfast... "Full Scottish" -again ;) <br><br>Packed up everything and was on the road by 9:30... 40mins down the road, had to U-turn and head back, (forgotton something). <br><br>Road up to Nelson was a little sunnier but fairly quiet. Detoured through Westport for lunch. Arrived in Nelson for the night.<br><br>Staying at the Honest Lawyer. It's like a big old-fashioned ...

... seem to be a mix of curious and timidity all in a small chicken sized flightless bird. A final stop at Punakaiki to admire the pancake rock formations, unfortunately the tide was out so the blowholes were blowing. On the road through Punakaiki there is a sign warning of penguins crossing the road, I don't think ...

... t supposed to take pictures but Tom got one!! After all the excitment we drove to the coast and had a lookout but it was pouring down so we had a look in some jade shops - unfortunately everything was out of our price range. We then waited until nightfall to see a glow worm dell but went when there was still some light and it was still raining LOTS so nothing to talk about there!