We headed off from Wesport after a fairly long lie. We were continuing our way down the "wild west coast", known for its bad weather and rough seas. The whole bus journey more or less was along the coastline, with amazing views of the sea to the right and mountains to the left. New Zealand has so many mountains...
Our first stop was for a 1 hour walk along the top of some cliffs by the sea. It was a pretty nice walk, and would have been good for clearing your head but as there was about 90 of us (there are 2 bus loads traveling together), it wasn't so good. Half way along there was a lookout point over some rocks. There were so many seals down there, i took plenty of pictures although its a bit hard to distinguish them from the rocks. I have a video too that I'll try and put up at somepoint.
We set off on our way down the coast again until we reached a town famous for its "pancake rocks". There are loads of these rocks that look like layers of pancakes, really quite impressive. We did a walk around there, checked out the rock formations and then headed back to the cafe for some lunch. It was a really clear day so there was also an amazing view of Mt. Cook and the mountains surrounding it, over in the distance, capped with snow.
We made one last stop in Greymouth to collect tea supplies and then carried on to the Mahniapua Hotel where we were staying and where our beach themed party was to be.
The hotel is basically in the middle of nowhere, and doesn't recieve much buisness other than Kiwi Experience buses. It's run by a guy called Les Lisle, New Zealands oldest publician, who is a bit of a legened really. Hes 82 year old but he's really sharp for his ages, he made a few cheeky we jokes when he got on our bus to welcome us. It seems that there are a lot of "characters" like him down the west coast, very friendly people though.
The hotel is about 3 mintues walk away from a deserted, but really nice beach so a group of us got ourselves some beers and headed down. We sat on a log, sipped our beers and watched the sunset, it was amazing. Afterwards we headed back for our tea. There was a huge BBQ type meal being cooked by our bus drivers, being a veggie I missed out on the steak and venicine stew and had quiche (for the first time). There was pasta bake and corn on the cob and potatoes and stuff too so it was all good.
After the meal everyone headed back to their cabins to get ready for the beach party. Like many, i didnt want to spend money on a costume so I was just in my shorts in tshirt, how original. It was a pretty good night though, there were some interesting costumes and everyone seemed to have fun. I got knackered very early on though and had to retire to bed.
This morning I set off on my way to Franz Josef. Tomorrow I'll be doing a full day glacier hike there, weather permitting. I really hope that the weather is ok, I'm really looking forward to it and it's something I've wanted to do since I decided to come to New Zealand.
I've also kind of planned out the rest of my trip in New Zealand now so I'll list where I plan to be on what dates.
April 25th - Arrive in Franz Joseph
April 26th - Glacier Hike
April 27th - Arrive in Wanaka
April 28th/29th - Arrive in Queenstown/Do Bungy Jump/Do Canyon Swing
April 30th - Day trip around Milford Sounds
May 4th - Arrive in Christchurch
May 5th - Arrive in Kaikoura
May 6th - Arrive in Wellington
May 7th - Arrive in Taupo
May 8th - Arrive in Rotorua
May 9th - Arrive in Auckland
That's where I plan to be on those dates but obviousley some may change. The days I havn't listed in Queenstown, and the days in between arriving in Auckland and my departure (May 12th), hopefully can be spent visiting Paul and Alberto. I really dont have too long left in New Zealand now atall.
**I had to type the last 2 entries really quickly so theyre a bit vauge in places and probably have terrible spelling. I also only had time to stick all my pictures in the one album, theyre not actually all from Nelson. Ill sort it out when I have better computer access and more time!
