West Coast Wandering

Let the wanderings in small but beautiful West coast towns begin! After a morning in Greymouth, I headed on the bus up to Nelson - a full day's ride through beautiful West coast scenery - huge surf, big cliffs and mountains on the other side. The vegetation was also quite different from what I have gotten used to with a lot more green and jungle-like conifers (great description eh?). We even got a great stop in at the pancake rocks - WAHOO! They were quite cool and the best way to describe them is really their name - pancake rocks. Columns of rock formations which were layered rocks appearing like a good old stack of pancakes with the maple syrup effect being provided by the moss. I'd say the pancakes were layered quite firmly though as the intense surf was giving them quite a beating - very cool spot! I got into artful Nelson a bit after dark, but my exploratory walk to the hostel gave me a good vibe about the quaint, medium-sized town.

Just add syrup to the pancake rocks!

 The next morning I adventured around Nelson, walking to the downtown, out along the harbour flats, and along a route to the centre of New Zealand! Okay, the geographical North-South Centre of the country apparently (I wouldn't really know). The centre was a survey point up on a look out and, of course, climbing the hill gave me a great look at the city and surrounding mountains and ocean. I quite liked my walk around and time in Nelson on another beautiful morning. Travelling in the tourist off season has been a fantastic experience so far - places which I know are normally full and bustling have been quite empty (I was one of 3 travellers staying in the Greymouth hostel), but I have still had fantastic weather to enjoy everything - that's just been luck so far. Also, it's been a decent temperature and I haven't had to deal with that killer NZ heat (but I might melt when I come home seeing as I've only had winter/autumn for about a year). I met up with my travelling companion and friend from working in Gisborne in Nelson, and together we continue along to Kaiteriteri!

 

The centre of New Zealand in Nelson!

 Kaiteriteri is a super small town right next to the beautiful Abel Tasman park and a beach destination for Kiwis and tourists alike (although mostly in summer…). We arrived after dark, but the next morning explored the area. I went for a walk along a trail on the cliffs and beaches and felt as if I was in the Caribbean with the golden sand, eroded cliffs dropping down to beaches, many lovely birds and bird song, and beachy feel of the place. The sand and beaches were truly beautiful, and I could have spent much longer there, but it was time to hit the road again to Westport!

 

Kaiteriteri beach

 Westport was a pretty small town again, but we arrived with enough time for a grocery run and to find a comfortable spot to watch the Super Rugby finals (go Chiefs! < look at me, such a good Kiwi!). After a good game and a come from behind surge in the last 20 minutes, the New Zealand team won - Wahoo!! The next morning I decided to try my hand at a famous New Zealand adventure activity - I realized I had been way  too relaxed in my travelling. So we went for some Jet Boating on the Buller River. Jet boating is a form of boating invented by a crazy Kiwi, and is quite similar to Jet skiing, but in a boat. The engine works by shooting water out behind the boat, and this technique allows the boat to go in very shallow water and do lots of fancy maneuvers. We had a 'leisurely' cruise up the Buller River and got to see a tree which appeared to change species half way up (a vine had established itself in the crown and taken over the original tree's vascular system - way cool). We also heard about the river which was quite surprising - when we boated on the river it looked like a moderately fast, big river - but nothing too intense, but our driver told us stories of how it can rise 10-15 metres in half an hour and move incredible amounts of water - having (I think) the second largest discharge to the ocean of any river in the world. Picturing the river with that much water in filling its large banks was quite intense! But none of that excitement for us - we just had our man-made adventure as, on the jet boat's way downstream on the river, we did many spins and daring maneuvers and shot around corners at an alarming route. Wahoo adrenalin!
 

The Jet Boat!

Well that was some great West Coast scenery along the way, but it's time to say goodbye to the West Coast and head inland to the bigger mountains!