Blogs from Greymouth, South Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 9

So, off across to the other coast...The Wild West as everyone calls it. Bit of a long journey over, but again, lots of stops to watch seals, go for walks, so it breaks the journey up well! We were treated to hours of great views, and arrived in Greymouth early evening. Just a quick stop over here, not much to do apart from the Monteith's Brewery tour! So we checked in, and quite a few of us headed over. It was only a tenner, and you got the full tour which was ok, but the tastings were great! 7 different ales on tap, and you got to try the lot. Some crackers, but all served too cold!! After that we got to pour ourselves a glass of our favourite, i went for the stout! Then, as ... read more

GREYMOUTH: Caught the train out of Christchurch after returning the hire car got picked up at the hotel and taken to the next leg of the journey. The Station. We stopped at Arthurs Pass to Stretch the legs the journey was about 4 hours. The scenery was great with the widest rivers we have ever seen. Our stopover for the night is Fox Glacier the base of the mountain. As the picture show chopper trip, Lake Matheson, and a local beach full of dead trees!... read more

18th Feb 2009 The town of Franz Josef is basically a stop for tourists who want to visit the glacier. It is a collection of motels and bars and not much else. We made an early start and drove to the car park at the start of the footpath to Franz Josef Glacier. The start of the trek is on a flat footpath and is very easy going but it soon meets the pebble river bed of what is the beginning of the Waiho river and it becomes a bit tricky to keep your footing. After a 40 minute walk we reach the last safe point to view. The glacier is some 7 miles long and descends from a region of perpetual snow down to a rain forest. At one time in its history it met ... read more

So far I have hiked through a Stream Flow Cave, a walk that lasted about an hour and went though a cave that became pitch dark with a rapid flowing stream through it. At parts it was all the way up to my stomach. I made it out to the west coast and visited Greymouth, Pancake Rocks and went on some short walks. One was to another cave that was not very interesting, but we met weird guy along the way that made the trip very amusing. Another walk today was the Charming Creek walk; on it was a suspended bridge, an old goldmining railway system, some tunnels through the mountain, and a large waterfall.... read more

En route vers Greymouth, on s'arrête pour voir les Pancake Rocks qu'on pourrait traduire par "les rochers crêpes". En effet les rochers sont composés de fines couches de roche empilées comme des crêpes. La recette pour la fabrication des crêpes est assez simple mais dure très longtemps. Elle commence il y environ 35 millions d'années avec une succession de dépôts de sédiments tels que des coquillages marins et de tassement par des boues et autres solides acheminés à la mer par les rivières. S'en suit d'un soulèvement des couches géologique lors de la formation des montagnes et du relief. Finalement une longue érosion par la mer et le climat donne le résultat des rochers crêpes. Et l'érosion continue... Non loin des Pancake Rocks, on trouve une plage qui est parfaite pour contempler un couché de soleil ... read more