Onwards to Greymouth

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I'm up and out early for my Intercity bus to Greymouth. The driver. Trev, shows at exactly nine o'clock having disappeared up a different street, giving me a minor heart attack thinking the bus stop pick up site had been changed again and I'd be missing another connection - this time a four hour trip! But no, apparently there were other stops in tiny Franz Joseph and I WAS in the right place. Phew.

This is to be another drive through stunning scenery for the section. There's a twisting, turning road up through the mountains surrounded by shear rock faces covered in trees and ferns. It's wet and drizzly and I hope this doesn't make for the tree avalanches I'd heard about on a previous tour! Our first stop is at the Pukeko Stores in Hari Hari, a tiny place miles from anywhere. Some ladies in the bus find the name of the store hilarious. I'm guessing 'pukeko' means something entirely different in another language. I find out from the instructions the driver is giving that I could have linked straight up to the scenic train journey I'm booked on for the following day and needn't have stayed a night in Greymouth after all so I hoped there was enough to do for the afternoon and morning I'd have there otherwise I could've planned in another day in either Wanaka or Franz Josef.

We pass through a place called the Kakapotahi Scenic Reserve. I remember that kaka are the funny fat parrots that fall out of trees but I don't spot any as we're driving through. We are moving into flatter countryside now, but still with quite a bit of tree coverage and the lack of mountains seems to have stopped the rain too. Every so often I catch glimpses of the sea through the trees on the left hand side so when we make our lunch break stop at a place called Hokitika I get something to eat then head off to see if there's access to the beach. There's a long stretch of sandy, driftwood covered beach with large breakers crashing all along he shore. People have made various 'art' works with the drift wood and there is a huge HOKITIKA sign made out of some of the larger pieces found on the beach. I make my own sign out of drift wood 'ARSE' - a silly joke I have with someone I know and then have a look around some of the shops. I find myself a piece of quirky spiral jewellery - yay.

And so we eventually arrive in Greymouth, most of the other people on the bus rushing to the station check-in area to get on their train journey to Christchurch. I am booked into a hostel called Noah's Ark, a different one to that I'd expected to be in - last minute change as my original choice had ceased trading! Luckily I'd seen the Booking.com email about it in time and made the switch to the place they suggested. I checked at the iSite how to get there and took their handy map along to make sure I got there ok. The building looks lovely from the outside when I arrive, balconies, wooden shutter boarding. It's obviously a lovely traditional building, but once inside I see they have totally ruined it with childish and silly animal murals all over the place. I am directed to the Monkey Room and yes, there are monkeys and bananas painted all over the walls. It's like being in a young child's nursery. A shame as the building is quite beautiful inside with lots of old wooden paneling. It's a large mixed dorm and stinks of sweaty men so it's a good job I'm only here for one night. As I've no food and the guy on reception has warned me there's no supermarkets open, but may be some restaurants serving - it's Easter weekend and it seems Greymouth has shut up shop for the holiday - I decide to head out (a) for a walk about to see what's what and (b) to try and find somewhere to eat.

On the map I have there is a 'bush walk' highlighted and this seems to link via a lake to the quayside area where the trains are which is near my hotel and where I'd seen some likely places that may have somewhere to eat. So off I head along this long, busy main road hoping to have a nice stroll around the town of Greymouth. Hmmm, this isn't one of the nicest places New Zealand has to offer. After getting off the main road I find myself in run-down suburbia and have to go across a rather dodgy car park, sports place that looks derelict and vandalised, and over the train track, to get to the 'bush walk'. Basically it's just a board walk through some trees around a kind of lake with an industrial back drop in the distance on the other side. There's rubbish washed up in the water around the base of the board walk and I find it doesn't go around and out further along the lake to link up with the other path near the quayside at all, but is a circular walk that takes me back to the grotty sports field car park! I then have to traipse what seems like miles through another run-down housing estate - a bit like going for a walk through Mile Cross in Norwich! Not something you would generally plan on doing for a holiday activity in our fine City and not something I particularly enjoy in Greymouth. It seems Greymouth is a bit of a disappointment and I'm relieved to finally reach the quay area where there is at least something of interest in some interpretation boards about the gold mining history that brought the town into existence.

Luckily I find a brilliant little cafe, Robert Harris, and settle down for some lovely veggie nosh and a huge ice-cream smoothie. There's free wifi so I spend a bit of time there spinning out a pot of tea after my food to catch up on some of my blogging. The staff are really lovely, friendly and welcoming and it's a nice end to the day that's been a bit of a disappointment re Greymouth otherwise. I'm now why the other holiday makers on the bus were heading straight onto the train trip.

The next day I have a whole morning to try and find something to do in rubbish Greymouth so I download a few geocaches and set off to see if they can provide a little interest at least. Luckily I'm able to check in my large bag at the railway early so don't have to lug that around with me all day. I find the Robert Harris Cafe is the only eatery open this Easter Monday and is therefore really busy with breakfasts. It's a twenty minute wait for mine, but I don't mind as I can again catch up on some of my blog and watch the excellent staff managing with humour and politeness the mad rush they unexpectedly have on. They are brilliant and I'm really impressed when my amazing breckie arrives. It's a veggie wonder of poached eggs with a hollandaise style sauce on spinach, tomatoes, mushrooms and toasted ciabatta bread. Really scrummy. The geocaches done I make my way to station to wait for my train to arrive.

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