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Published: December 10th 2022
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This morning we left Richmond where we have spent a fabulous week with our dear friends Robin and Sandra. We have really enjoyed their company and their hospitality but … it is time to start heading home.
To fit in some more sightseeing before leaving NZ, we drove west over the Southern Alps on State Highway No. 6. We stopped to stretch our legs at Hope Saddle Lookout and to photograph the Buller River at Gowan Bridge and Kilkenny Lookout. We finally glimpsed the Tasman Sea at Charleston before continuing south along the west coast with stops at Irimahuwhero Lookout and Coghlans Lookout, where we saw two pukeko chicks. Here I think we call them swamphens, which doesn’t sound quite so exotic?
NOTE: I am reliably informed by a New Zealander (thanks Robin!) that these chicks were actually Lord Howe Island woodhen chicks.
It was around lunchtime when we arrived at the amazing Pancake Rocks at Punakaiki. Despite the forecast threatening deteriorating weather for today we were lucky to arrive at Pancake Rocks with an overcast sky, but no rain. We parked the car and then headed to the crossing to take us to the other side of
the highway to walk the Pancake Rocks and Blowhole circuit.
On the other side of the road we had a guy approach us with a camera and microphone on his shoulder. He asked where we were from and, upon discovering that we were visiting from overseas, asked Bernie if he would answer a few questions on camera! How exciting. Bernie’s short interview may or may not make it onto some travelogue snippet on New Zealand television??? We will probably never know.
We walked clockwise around the Pancake Rocks and Blowholes Walk admiring and photographing the rocks that do, indeed, look like stacks of pancakes due to the layering that occurred when alternating layers of sediment were deposited millions of years ago when the rocks that we see now formed part of the ancient sea floor. Those sediments then compacted, were uplifted and eroded to form the ‘pancake stacks’ that we see today.
Although we arrived soon after high tide today the blowholes were not really doing their thing. The guy with the camera said this was due to the lack of wind. So, we saw the impressive rocks, but we didn’t get the drama of the surf
being pushed up through the fissures in the rocks. Maybe next time??? With it now being time for a late lunch we shared a pizza at the café opposite the rocks before continuing south.
Our next stop was at Runanga where we walked one of the many walking and tramping (NZ word for hiking) tracks in the Greymouth area. With the afternoon getting away from us we chose the short (1hr, 3.6 km return) Coal Creek Walking Track. It was a lovely walk along the Coal Creek Valley through mixed beech-podocarp (a type of conifer) forest that terminated at a small, but picturesque waterfall.
Following our bush walk we made our way into Greymouth where we spent the night. Greymouth is the largest town in the West Coast Region of the South Island. It will interest one of my friends to know that the name Brunner features in this area with a town and a lake named after Thomas Brunner, one of the first Europeans to visit this area. The area is well known for its mining and jade-hunting heritage with the greenstone highly prized by the Māori inhabitants long before Europeans arrived.
After checking in at
the Alpine Rose Motel we walked down to the Recreation Hotel to find some dinner. They couldn’t fit us into the restaurant with a few big groups in, at least one of which was celebrating Christmas … if their costumes were anything to go by?! Fortunately, we managed to find a table in the bar and order our food from the hole in the wall there. Literally a man in a space no larger than a wardrobe taking orders! Initially we were perched at a high table … right beside the pool table. Once play commenced we were keeping a close watch for a safer table since one shot had to be played from beside Bernie’s left ear!! Phew, a table was vacated and we quickly moved away from the pool table before one of us lost an eye.
Steps for the day: 13,637 (9.2km)
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Tot: 0.524s; Tpl: 0.014s; cc: 33; qc: 120; dbt: 0.2488s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
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Joy Woolston
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Good to see the usual great photos. You are packing a lot into this trip. Hope you will have time to visit one of the glaciers.