Pancake Rocks, Flax and Nelson

Farewell to Greymouth

Leaving Greymouth, we carried on up the west coast through Paparoa National Park to the Pancake Rocks and blowholes at Punakaiki.  This is one of the more spectacular sites we have visited in New Zealand - 30 million year old rock formations that look like stacked pancakes.  There is a wonderful hiking trail loop that takes you out to the coastline to be completely wowed at every turn by jaw-dropping scenery and beautiful plantlife, including plenty of the beautiful New Zealand flax that we see everywhere.

Driving the rocky shores of the west coast of the south island 

The west coast - not a lot of sand along this stretch!

The shoreline and wave action near Pancake Rocks

Walking through the jungle of flax to get to the rocks

Even the scientists can't explain these crazy formations

First sighting

Some of the pathways and bridges in the Pancake Rocks area

Loved this rocky stairwell

That's a lot of pancakes!

Rock bridge - stunning!

A flax hedge

We even got to see the rare Weka bird, a distant relative of the Kiwi bird (which we have not sighted yet - they are nocturnal)  We thought this would be a 20 minute stop, but it turned into about 2 hours.  Fantastic and highly recommended if you're planning a trip to New Zealand.  We also stopped in at the beachfront of the Punakaiki resort and collected a few rocks.  Yes, we're certifiable.

Weka in the bushes

On the beach at Punakaiki Resort

Lots of nice stones to find on this beach!

Beautiful spot on the beach

Narrowing down the search area

At the town of Westport, we stopped to have lunch and noticed that they sell pot plants here.  Not the same kind as we have at home though :-)

I admit I did a double-take when I saw this sign

And you know you're not in Canada anymore when you see signs like this one:

NOT a Tim Horton's!

At Westport, we turned inland from the coast and followed some spectacular scenery along the Buller River and stopped at a viewpoint high up in the hills at a place called Tapawera.  Not a lot there, except for exceptional views.  We met a couple of fellows who were on their way to a 'guys weekend', and got chatting with them about it.  They were telling us that their last trip had been to a place called the Chatham Islands - these are 750 km to the east of New Zealand, but are part of the country, and the first place in the world to see the sunrise each day!  I'd never heard of them before - always something to learn on this trip!

The roadway along the Buller River

Perfect Jet-boating river - lovely driving scenery 

We arrived in Nelson early in the afternoon, and checked into a great AirBnb - this one is our own apartment on the ground floor of the home.  We have a lovely sundeck in the flower-filled, sun-drenched back yard and a full one-bedroom apartment complete with washing machine.  Time to get some laundry done!  Our hosts even put up a Canadian flag on the balcony to welcome us.  I love New Zealanders!

Home for a few days in New Zealand - complete with flag!
Those of you who know Glen well will appreciate
how much he appreciated the flag 

The view from our deck

The trees and bushes are in bloom.  Stunning colours

Loved this tree

The Nelson area really doesn't leave much to be desired.  We visited several beaches and hiking trails that are all within a 20 minute drive of town, along with a huge nature reserve called Rabbit Island.  Or you can just go to the beach in town - it's a few miles long, gorgeous sand, clean, shallow and warm water.  It's a haven for windsurfers and a great place to learn in protected waters.  The town is not too big, and not too small, clean, safe and friendly.  I can see why people would choose to live here.

Kayakers on Cable Bay near Nelson

Interesting flowers on the roadside at Cable Bay

Gypsy caravan - not a great picture, but this was built of
wood on the truck.  Crazy!

A common sight in New Zealand vineyards - draped with netting.
I guess this keeps the birds off the grapes.

Dad's building a raft for his daughter - saw them floating it later!

On the beach at Rabbit Island looking back towards Nelson

Rabbit Island looking the other way. There is so much
beach here it's ridiculous.

A little ferry boat for a two-minute crossing to Rabbit Island.
Or you can drive around the long way (about 15 minutes) and
take the bridge.

The beach at Kaiteriteri - a beautiful little bay
with calm water for learning to paddle board or
for kayaking.

Kaiteriteri

We hiked out along the rocks quite a ways out from the beach.

Pretty patterns in the sand from the wave action

Saw this old motorcycle so I took a picture for my
brother and my cousins and my nieces

Hokitika, Greymouth, and Gypsy Caravans

NZ South Island west coast:  Haast to Greymouth highway

It was about a 5 hour drive from Haast to Greymouth, and we managed to stretch that out to about 7 hours with our usual stops along the way.  The coastline here is very dramatic with lots of big rocks sticking out of the water and beautiful plant life along the way.

We stopped at a remote beach because we saw 'penguin crossing' signs on the road ( I missed getting a picture of one of those ).  Gorgeous powdery sand and then small rocks where the tide was going out.  We wandered along picking up some bits of green stone that is called, cleverly, New Zealand Greenstone.  It's the local form of jade.  We didn't see any penguins, but as we were leaving, we saw this pile of white rocks that were signed by different people who had visited the beach.  You can probably tell by this that there are a lot of white rocks in New Zealand.

Remote beach at the side of the highway.  Lots of fun
stones to find . . . but no penguins visible!

Autographed rocks at the side of the beach

From there, it was a short drive into Tai Poutini National Park.  I LOVE this name - I don't know why, but I just like to say it!  This is where the Fox and Franz Josef glaciers can be seen.  We stopped at a place where several hikes to the Fox glacier start and did a quick 45 minute loop on one of the trails.  One of the many things that New Zealand does so well is trail maintenance - they are all beautifully cared-for and make hiking a pleasure.  As well, there is an abundance of clean, free public washrooms pretty much anywhere we stop.  We didn't hike all the way up to the glacier - we've both done it in Banff, and didn't feel a need to go where it's cold.  Just as we were about to leave, we ran into our new Jasper friends Carol and John who were about to hike up to the glacier.  We had a laugh about them following us around, and carried on our way.

Giant fiddlehead

Fox Glacier - lousy pic!

Glen's favourite fern trees.  

Pretty roots

A little repetition!

Beautiful trails for walking

A better view of the glacier.  It was a long
walk up there, and they only let you get within about 500
meters, so we had a look from here.

Rocks beside the river with the most beautiful red lichen on them.

Fun rental camper van we saw on the road.

We stopped in a little town called Harihari for a bite to eat and then carried on up the road.

In Harihari - cute little building.

Harihari - the restaurant across the street.  Probably should
have eaten there!  

Since we needed gas, we decided to stop at the town of Hokitika and were quite glad we did.  There's a beach here (naturally) and it seemed like a good time and place to take a walk.  The first thing we saw as we parked the car was this driftwood sign on the beach:

The beach at Hokitika.  Complete with cement chair.

As we got closer, we realized the beach was literally a jumble of driftwood creations.  It was really fun to walk around and see what people had done.  I thought perhaps this was normal, but we found out later that they have an annual driftwood sculpture competition and it had taken place the previous weekend.

At first we thought there was just a lot of jumbled driftwood

Loved this one!

Not sure what this is, but it's very elaborate.
They even wove some flax leaves into the design.

Loved this dinosaur and its prey

Dinosaur with the beach in the background.

Beautiful beach!

As we neared the town of Greymouth, we passed through Kumara Junction and crossed this crazy bridge, which is on the main highway into Greymouth.  Note that this is a fairly large sized town.  The bridge is a one lane bridge that is shared with the railroad!!!  New Zealand has a very strange fondness for single-lane bridges on small, medium and major roads.  But sharing with a train takes the cake.

Love this roadside sign.

Taking turns on the bridge

This is not a small bridge

Driving on the bridge / railway tracks!

Our home for the next couple of nights is one of the old style New Zealand homes that I've been admiring since we arrived.  They are typically single-storey, wood siding houses that look like they were built sometime in the 30s or 40s.  The couple we are staying with are so hospitable and welcoming.  Rick had a stroke a few years ago, and so is a bit slow with speech and getting around, but has maintained a wicked sense of humour.  Lynnette is a cheerful, friendly bundle of energy who operates her own catering business as well as the AirBnB.

Home in Greymouth

Part of Rick's collection of whiskey jars

A very formal conversation pit!

Rick and Lynnette . . . and a wicked good fruit cobbler

Our first night there, we were joined by a couple from Beijing, Rick and Lynnette's daughter and her husband, and the permanent boarder, Mark.  We had a wonderful BBQ dinner with everyone around the table, like a big family, and a giant pavlova for dessert.  It was an international feast and so much fun to sit and chat with everyone.  The second night, it was just Mark, Lynnette, Rick and us and it felt a bit quiet and empty!  Lynnette made a beautiful leg of lamb roast, along with several yummy vegetable and salad dishes, then topped the whole thing off with a fresh fruit cobbler.  This, after working a full day.  Breakfast and dinner were all part of the deal staying here, and I really think we came out on the right side of that deal.

International dinner table

Giant Pavlova

Lynnette in her element!

There were a couple of great beachcombing beaches here - Glen added to his pile of 'gemstones', and I admit I got caught up in it myself.  We had a fun time looking at some gypsy caravans that were beginning to gather for a festival on the weekend.

Fun with rocks

Scenic beach for rock gathering.  It kept threatening to rain, but never did.

I found a heart rock.  For you Obie Warnica!

Gypsy caravans are arriving in town for a festival on the weekend.

Can't imagine what this weighs.  

A little more 'normal - the trailer was painted with fern leaves.

Lynnette and Rick took us out to the local brewery where Glen sampled some of the local brews, and then we carried on to the town breakwater where we watched a fishing boat being rescued in some very large waves.  The town 'network' was working very well - people kept arriving to watch the drama.  We had to leave as dinner was in the oven, and they still wanted to take us up to the top of the hill to get the panoramic view of Greymouth.  It's not a huge place, but a nice friendly town.  Glen got his watch strap fixed at the local jeweller for $7 and a lot of conversation!  A great spot to stay for a few days and do some exploring.

The local brewery - Lynnette loves to take her AirBnB guests
there for a taste. No argument from Glen!

A little hard to see the boat being towed out there!  The
swells were quite large.

Greymouth from the town high point.  Another spot Lynnette
insisted on taking us to see.

A rare photo of us together :-)