We drank our morning coffee in the sun at a picnic table in the garden area of the holiday park. We had chocolate hot cross buns as an accompaniment, which are ridiculous but delicious. We quickly packed up, topped up our water storage and we're moving south by nine am. We tried to stop at the iSite for a magnet, but it didn't open until ten so we continued our journey. We had few goals for the day: stop in Greymouth to sell some of Sonnys aquarium equipment, and get as far south as possible. I was hoping to stop at Punakaki to see the pancake rocks, but it was a secondary thing.
The drive down to coast reminded jaw-droppingly wild and photogenic. I kept begging Sonny to pull over at various lookouts and coves so I could drink in the beauty. Therefore, there are lots of photos. At one lookout, we met a friendly older couple who told us of a short walk ahead and strongly recommend we take it as they said the scenery was gorgeous.
Just where they said, we found a small parking area and we set off on the 15-minute return hike. It brought you to a wild cove, with some pancake rock style formations and intensely huge waves. We wandered around a bit, took lots of photos, and I even got soaked by a extra large rouge wave. On the way out I spotted a tiny blue mushroom!
Shortly after this cove we passed the official pancake rocks. We stopped for a bit, but ultimately decided not to do the walk for two reasons: no shade in the parking area and the van was quite warm, and no less than four giant buses of tourists, plus at least 50 over cars all going to the same place. We were happy with our earlier walk, so we pressed on to Greymouth.
We managed to complete the sale despite a debacle with an incorrect address, then stopped at the local market where I was sorely tempted by the most beautiful greenstone and rimu coasters, but ultimately purchased some sausages from a very congenial German women. We refilled on petrol, bought our magnet, and ambled along the docks for a bit before we continued south.
Directly outside of town we came upon the most ridiculous NZ bridge ever. It was a one lane bridge, on a major highway, with limited visibility, AND it was shared with the freight trains we had already seen barreling along twice that day! We made it over without incident, but jeez New Zealand!
Our next stop was Hokitika, the greenstone capital of New Zealand. We ate a picnic lunch on the beach while the dogs exhausted themselves, then I explored the shops of the jade carvers while Sonny relaxed in the van.
We continued south toward the twin glaciers of Fox and Franz Josef. As we drew near, the famous west coast rain clouds thickened and soon everything was misty and desaturated.
However, we were planning on camping on the coast in a tiny and adorable little village called Okarito which had a campground run by the community association. As we turned off the highway and headed west, the clouds melted away and we returned to the sun. Upon arrival, we made camp then took the trail which went to the beach ( by passing directly through the town's aero dome, which, regretfully I did not snap a photo of). We let the dogs tire themselves out on yet another beach, then headed back to cook our dinner of market sausages, pasta, and salad.
I also spoke to and helped out some lovely retirees from the Southern states who were also driving a van around New Zealand. We admired their gumption as this vagabond life can be hard on the young at times! We watched a truly gorgeous sunset over the ocean, but forgot to document until it was almost complete. When we retreated inside the van, it became apparent that the dogs are not ready for Chicago as they were both shivering in the autumn evening. We wrapped them up and made fun of them until it was time for bed.
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