Going To New Zealand part eight (Hanmer S. on to Greymouth at the west coast)

Hmm.

Hanmer Springs over, we set off at 7am in the morning for our next over-night stop: Greymouth, which is over at the west coast of the south island. Going on to Culverden, Waipara, Amberley, Rangiora, Oxford (not the one in England), Sheffield and Springfield (no, not the one in the Simpson's either), we came to Arthur's Pass.

Arthur's Pass, as you can most probably know (if you have a good sense of geography) is a road through the mountains of the southern alps of NZ. we just drove on by, past the dry-grassed hills (it was summer) and then came across a few lakes. Not a huge lake, mind you, but one where you can swim in (see where my mind is wandering off to?). Taking several pictures, I decided to comprimise by wading in one of the lakes, which turned out to be not a good idea after all.

The shore of the lake was five inches of silty, muddy muck, and as soon as i stepped into the water, my foot sank in to the bottom, covering itself in four inches of mud. Stepping hastily away, I decided to take a break from this and hurry back: my mother was literally howling.

The journey through Arthur's Pass involved travelling down the road which was next to a mountain river, crossing a wide valley on a highway structure, and seeing for the first time, a drain (or should I say a huge concrete funnel) diverting the river's water away from the road. We travelled a little down further and finally came to the marker of the end of Arthur's Pass: a statue of Arthur himself perched atop a hill looking back at the pass named after him.

We carried on past Otira, making northward past Jacksons, Inch Bonnie (what a name!), Rotomanu, Stillwater (no, not the band in 'Almost Famous'), Dobson and finally Greymouth. Journey's end for the day.

Greymouth (or as my mother pronounces it: 'graymerth'), is a small coastal town which is literally split into two sections by a river. Our hotel was right next to the river and there was a sign: 'DO NOT ENTER THE RIVER. WASTES AND TOXIC CHEMICALS MAY CAUSE DEATH' so I decided that maybe Greymouth was not such a great place to swim.

we went to the New World Supermart (we went to it at every major town) and decided to get some stuff for the next day's breakfast after that afternoon's McDonald's lunch and Burger King for dinner. The norm was fruits and bread, and for some reason, my brother threw in some ice cream: two point five whole litres of the solid stuff in a tub.

The night passed watching the TV programme 'The Naked Chef' after seeing 'The Darkness' featured on the news.

Breakfast: bread spread with margarine and hazelnut butter with the handy swiss army knife brought along by yours truly. the issue at hand was how to finish off the ice cream left over from last night. there was about two thirds left, and as we left Greymouth, my brother and I sat in the car taking spoonfuls of the chocolatey stuff and rubbing our sore stomachs. Sigh.

Cheers,

Crawldaddy