Monday, November 1, 2010

South island part 3: west coast

here goes a big post i prolly should of split up, oh well, let the adventure continue...
Once we got to Westport, we took a turn to avoid the township and headed for Cape Foulwind:
this was the first part of the country viewed by a European, the Dutch "discoverer"Abel Tasman to whom we owe our country's unfortunate name. we were in for plenty more amazing rugged coastline.
then we went to a spot where the seals frolic: zoomed in
here's the girls at Punakaiki, with the unique pancake rocks.

here's Punakaiki beach at sunset, just by the campgrounds. went for a beach walk that night and saw too many stars including two shooting stars :)
next day, trying on the local fashion (possum furs):
river to the sea
after a regrettable stop in Greymouth (advise would be to avoid), we stopped at a replica goldmining town Shantytown, which had an old steamtrain ride. coolest part was the end of the line:
Josie and Cybie on the old steam tractor/train log moving thing:
Lol @ next photo too. the masons had big lodges all through the goldmining country, no surprise. what is weird is that this lodge, in the replica goldmining town, was still functioning. I took another photo in here which shows some real serious mason business that i will share in the future.
next stop, Hokitika Beach. as there are other people in the photo, you could say this is a pretty crowded part of the coast.
for dinner that night, locally caught in-season delicacy Whitebait! cooked by me in the RV.

we stayed at Franz Joseph township, next day went up to see the glacier. waterfalls on the walk:

me at the Glacier: wowmoving on... this here is a spot called Bruce Bay... about 1km of beach where local hippies and travellers have made driftwood and rock art all the way along. you could spend a day there looking at it all. if you were into that sort of thing.
Look out! mad weather coming in, further on
then another deserted beach on the Haast highway... this one made up of tiny pebbles
we'd almost run out of road by then so we turned inland, through Haast Pass, stopping at Thunder creek falls to hear thunder and taste the raindrops

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