I'm sad to have reached my last post from New Zealand. It's been a busy few days and a great 3 weeks but tomorrow I'm off to Sydney.
To fill in the last gaps. After spending 2 days in Christchurch last week, I headed off on Saturday on the last leg of my scenic train journey from Christchurch to Greymouth on the West Coast. The other rail journeys had been spectacular but this one disappointed because it was wet and the view was bad. Had a much better view yesterday on the bus back - lovely high rolling hills and deep wooded valleys. Greymouth was a very quiet, appealing little town. I arrived at about 2pm on Saturday and by 5pm almost everything was closed and it was raining. It was tiny and hardly anything was happening but I loved it there, it was very comfortable to walk around and the youth hostel was one of the old-fashioned kind converted from a huge old house, wood-pannelled, wide-staircases. It was cosy and friendly and just like youth hostels should be! One of Greymouth's attractions is Monteith's brewery where they brew 2 of the 7 Monteith's beers. I went along for the tour and the tasting on Sunday morning at 11.30 and was off my head by 12.15 - strong stuff and they were generous with the tasting measures! I pulled my own pint as you will see from the photos (the keen observers among you may comment on the head -not my fault, the keg was finished). Some nice walking around Greymouth too because you quickly get into what they call 'bush' here - it seems to mean woods or forest. Did a great 'bush' walk up above the town which had spectacular views of the Tasman Sea and the Grey Valley but was a bit spooky because it was just sooo quiet in there. Apart from these, there were nice eating places to have coffee and healthy food and write postcards, all in all I have enjoyed it there much more than the cities.
From Greymouth I went to Punakaiki, a tiny little settlement (if I thought Greymouth was small - this wasn't even a village!) where I stayed at the Punakaiki Beach Hostel and felt very hippy. Nothing to do except walk along the beach, eat at one of the cafes or the pub, see the famous limestone 'Pancake Rocks' and blowholes and go for walks. Lovely. On one of my days there, I went to the nearby Barrytown for a knifemaking day - you can see the pictures. A group of 10 of us forged and finished our own blades from steel rods and made and finished the wooden handles. A very professional result - you WILL agree when you see it... A good group of people - and one of those instances where the foreigners in the group were much nicer to hang around with than the British people.
Back in Christchurch now and today I went to Kaikoura to whale watch. Kaikoura has a continental shelf drop about 1km off the coast and it creates good feeding conditions for the whales. So you can go out in boats and spot them and we did quite well today, spotting 3 whales and loads of dolphins. Definitely recommended if you come to NZ. I had a laugh (though it didn't seem funny at the time) this morning when I was trying to find the place the bus was going from. I knew it was outside a bar called the Holy Grail but I coudln't find it anywhere, the street signage falls apart in the centre of town. So there I am, and it's not yet 7am, running up to people in the Cathedral Square saying 'Can you help me, I'm looking for the Holy Grail'. Well, I chuckled about it later!
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