Watching the Show

Trip Start Sep 09, 2004
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Trip End Ongoing


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Flag of New Zealand  ,
Sunday, July 17, 2005

Apart from its location and considering it was dark when I arrived, Westport didn't appear to offer all that much to write home about. On a random whim, I snacked on a piece of fish from the shoddiest of places, and much to my surprise, I can honestly say was one of the best pieces of fish I've had yet. I don't even know what it was, never heard of it before, certainly couldn't pronounce it and now I've forgot it.

I left for Greymouth after breakfast stopping en route in Punakaiki to visit the pancake rocks. It was low tide, which made the blowholes more or less uneventful, but the rocks themselves were extraordinary. What's more impressive is that the countless, towering stacks of pancakes I was stood admiring were all once under the sea. There are abundantly visible now but only as a result of the gradual continental uplift that has hauled the whole thing up above sea level (the same uplift that continues to push up the Southern Alps.)

I arrived in Greymouth around mid afternoon and checked in to the Top 10. It was a good one too, warm (ish), clean and with a special bonus: a pathway at the edge of the site, which led ten steps or so right on to the beach. Unlike yesterday, today had blessed me with plenty of time. I got parked up and plugged in and took my place on the beach, where I remained uncomfortable, yet wholly content until dark. It was spectacular. I saw the whole thing from eye-level right down to that roaring fire that seems to firework up from deep beneath the horizon. What made it - what absolutely made it - was a view that at first I couldn't comprehend. As I looked South along the coast, I noticed that it was lined with the vast, magnificent snow capped range of the Southern Alps. The coastline swept out, arcing around to the west enough to lure you in to thinking that the Southern Alps were sitting in the sea. It was spectacular, and again, became another indescribable, soul-touching moment. I really do think that to experience just one of these profound moments is enough to change someone's life forever. To have felt and experienced one after another is something else entirely. What an incredible, amazing world we live in!
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