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netGallery > Jon and Sarah > World_Tour_2006 > New Zealand > Nelson and Greymouth

Nelson and Greymouth

New Zealand

April 2007

NELSON AND GREYMOUTH

The stretch of water that runs between the North and South islands of New Zealand is called the Cook Straight. About twice the distance of the English Channel it takes about two hours to cross via one of two ferry companies. The occasional crazy swimmer also attempts this crossing and just recently a girl of fifteen succeeded this choppy challenge. Well done you.

Our first destination was to be Nelson. A great name for a town and we liked the Nelson we visited in Canada, way back in September, so we somehow knew we’d like this one too.

We were right. A smallish town perched at the top of the South Island, full of charm and character. We got there on a Friday night after dark so once we got up on Saturday we hit the town centre in search of a web café and shops. I’d been having problems getting some web work done and we were also falling seriously behind on the BLOG and sorting of photos. The straw that broke the camels back was here in Nelson when my data key, holding all my files no longer worked in each of the three web cafes I tried. An hour later I was the proud new owner of the laptop on which I now type. A bargain at just over 350GBP and was now my new exciting toy. Sarah not to be beaten then leapt at a pair of very nice and very expensive long purple boots, so after a dizzy two hours, we had to retreat to Starbucks to sit down and work out how much we had just spent. Well over budget… again!

We dragged our purchases back to the camper and set off just before five in the afternoon. We had a lot of road to eat up, if we were to make the next camp site before witching hour, so we sped off down the west coast, anti-clockwise around the Island. We made our destination with enough energy left for a quick meal and then a lot of trying on of new boots and configuring of laptops.

Sunday arrived, so after tea, cereal and a brisk shower, we were back on the west coastal highway in search of some tourist attractions. The only such attractions we found or had time for on this drive were the Pancake Rocks and Blowholes.

These are peculiar rock formations lining the beach and jutting up from the sea. They are called Pancake rocks due to them having many narrow layers much like a stack of American pancakes, just without the maple syrup. They were actually quite amazing and came in so endless shapes and sizes. The blow holes weren’t very active due to low tide but these are simply holes in these rocks and the waves come crashing in, water is forced down under and up through these spouts creating a spray much like a volcanic geyser.

It was a gloriously sunny day so we stopped later that afternoon by the beach for more cheese and pickle sandwiches, washed down with lashings of steaming Earl Grey tea, courtesy of our new flask. Magic. Whilst eating we watched a young guy cycle past on a very old and uncomfortable looking penny-farthing. He was also wearing a hat much like that of an English policeman, with the high domed lid but in khaki. We could only surmise from this that he must have been doing it for charity, because no sane human being would put themselves through that for fun.

As we watched him pedal off up the steep hill, it made be feel quite exhausted so with only one option, we took a much-needed snooze in the van, before setting off for the glacier territory.

Editors note: Whilst perusing the Bangkok Post, over a month later, we stumbled across a photo that caught our eye of a man riding a penny-farthing in a peaked hat. It was the same guy, as the article said he’s from London and has been riding across Europe, Asia and New Zealand since May 2006. Wow!