The Ashley Hotel 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 ...

... a walk on the beach. The west coast of New Zealand is so beautiful! Then, we ate spaghetti for dinner along with chocolate chip cookies, and some of us headed out to watch the sunset. Some of the staff said that they have rain about 80% of the time in the West Coast, but today was the perfect day. Later on, we had a campfire on the beach and enjoyed looking at the thousands of stars in the sky.

... pink leggings and Neil wore a ladies pink vest, ladies pink shorts and pink knee-high socks with a bit cut out for his flip-flops to go. We looked a real sight (there are photos!), and we ended up winning the best fancy dress costume. Our prize was a Jaegerbomb each, so I'm not sure it was such a great prize to win. We had a good time, but I felt a little worse for wear the next day!

... to slowly more rugid, mountainous terrain for which the South Island is best known for. But the weather didn't make this a good intro for us!! We went to a coffee shop recommended by the Lonely Planet to take advantage of Wi-Fi connectivity. It was a strange place and after taking an age to get served I asked about Wi-Fi connection and the owner who was quite rude, just grunted "the Lonely Planet didn't ask for our approval for their entry. The LP ...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD !!!

The "old-man" had a real breakfast... "Full Scottish" -again ;)

Packed up everything and was on the road by 9:30... 40mins down the road, had to U-turn and head back, (forgotton something).

Road up to Nelson was a little sunnier but fairly quiet. Detoured through Westport for lunch. Arrived in Nelson for the night.

Staying at the Honest Lawyer. It's like a big old-fashioned ...

... a splendid afternoon. Keas delayed us somewhat on the descent, but that's the point; we're in New Zealand. We then drove down the other side of the pass, which is steep in places, to the Otira Hotel. We camped in the field opposite and ate at the pub, chatting to the landlord (Arran via Somerset) and other campers (Christchurch). It was all very exciting and we didn't get to bed until gone 9 o'clock!

... we we going through sub-tropical forest along the edge of the river and climbed through some limestone caves. Finally we walked the Truman Track but unfortunately the Kiwi Experience bus had just turned up so it was really busy! We had lunch then hit the road to Hokitika - The Jade Stone Town. After reading in our guide about an Eco-Centre in this town where you could see live ...