South Island – The Best of The West Coast

Rosie has been a tad disappointed with the West Coast to date, other than the scale it has just been abit mediocre and not that different maybe from what she has seen before.  As soon as we hit the road north of Greymouth towards Westport all that was about to change, Rosie has had her mind blown….

The road is reminiscent of the Californian Pacific Coast Highway….only heaps more beautiful, the bushy cliffs hovering over the beautiful bays are really picturesque, and that was on a grey, misty day!  I think it would be beautiful in any season and in any light.

 The Pancake Rocks and Blowholes at Punakaiki is a well established tourist sight and totally free.  A sealed footpath takes you on the 15 minuet journey around the cliffs edge and headland to view these miraculous formations of geology.

….at high tide the water surges up and pushes up through the rock caverns and pushes water out of blowholes making an eerie booming noise and providing a big splashtasic display, it was a little low key due to the lack of the water but beautiful non the less!   Through a layering and weathering process called stylobedding the Dolomite limestone has formed into what looks like stacks of pancakes….thats about all Rosie got out of those info boards, it was abit to science techy for me.

This view is from the Irimahuwhero Lookout – you are still winding up the coast on the edge of the sea, below are beautiful inaccessible beach coves with white sand beaches.   Baches cling to the hillside hidden amongst the flax, the cloud was still low mingling with the spray from the whipped up sea giving the horizon a misty look.

And then, the lights went out – all of a sudden it was deep twilight, the sky turned dark leaden grey, the mist enveloped us, it was 11.00am and we had to turn our lights on…then the sky opened up and it rained, and rained and rained.  This was the first rain on our holidays while we have been out and about, we have been very lucky.

Then, like a tap being turned off, the rain stopped, the sky lightened and daylight resumed.  Rosie has been hankering for a pie since she left the Pancake Rocks, The Operator said we were coming to a few towns, hang in until then….there was nothing in Charleston, and I mean nothing.  We turned inland toward Murchison. …and followed the Buller Gorge .  The river snaked along the road, wide and brown, bush down to its shingle banks.

The gorge got narrower and narrower, in some places it was down to one lane areas.  At Uranium Point the road stopped, and had to be carved out of the rocky cliff and you drove under the overhang on a one lane road.

In the picture below you can see the scar cut out of the cliff where the roadway goes.

Rosie was over the gorge, her but has gone numb and thank God she is towing her own kitchen.  There are no pie shops between Punakaiki and Murchison, actually…. for the whole 160km there was not alot of anything..except bush.  It was nice to come across the Buller Gorge Swingbridge about 14km west of Murchison.

The swingbridge is 110 metres long, and very bouncy and swingy, Rosie felt the sweat bubble on her lip and her heartbeat rise as she stood on the narrow bridge high above the river.  Each step bounced and then counterbounced as others walked the walk.  Looking down was nerve wracking and Rosie was glad when she reached the other side.  You could catch a flying fox back for an additional cost, Rosie almost wished she had opted for that.

Motueka was our final destination, and there was no room at the inn when we got there, the Holiday Park was fully booked, 14 km up the road was Kaiteriteri, it is the most popular holiday destination in these parts and its mega capacity of 480 campsites WAS FULLY BOOKED.  The joys of trying to find a place to stay so close to New Years.

Rosie and The Operator are kind of glad there was no space at Kaiteriteri….this is a sample of the beach, multiply it by twenty more pictures and you have a mini Bondi…I have never seen any beach in NZ so full of people and look so beautiful.  Everyone had brown leathery skin like old shoes and everyone was packed like sardines into the campground…..we turned around and headed for a NZMCZ Low Cost Parking site just out of town in a fruit orchard.  It was the first time as a member we have used a property like this, they have power and shower and toilets all for the cost of $12 per night.  We rocked up and were sitting in the sun 5 mins later.

Tomorrow we are hanging around the area as we have a cunning New Years Eve plan…stay tuned.