After finishing our stay with Rory, we had decided to take the road leading on the west coast, where the scenery was said to be very pretty. Two relatively big towns were on the way, Westport and Greymouth, and we chose the first one as the place to stay one night. On the way, we stopped for a quick hike. we paid 5$ to walk over the Buller river on a long swing bridge, which was 18 meters above the water. We learned some interesting facts about the region, and some major earthquakes that have happened there before. The water level went up so high after those events, it is almost unbelivable; more than 10 meters!!!
We then arrived in Westport where I must say, there wasn't much to see or do. Probably the biggest surprise so far, nothing to really write about. The next morning, we headed straight for Greymouth and the scenery was worth stopping for; the beautiful coastline and the blue sky made for nice pictures. Some areas were very humid and it flet like a tropical climate at times.
Definitely one of the prettiest roads so far, I stopped more than 5 times to look or film. It was nice to get some warm weather for a few minutes. We tried to go see the pancake rocks, famous for the way they look and the water erupting out when the tide is coming in.
We then stopped in Greymouth, and the city opening after the mountains was a particular site. We checked at the local city centre what were the activities in the area, but they all cost a lot of money (white water rafting, kayaking, caving, jumpimg from a plane) and the weather was cold, and it was a bit too late..... so we decided to start crossing the land again towards Christchurch, on the east coast.
We took a less crowded road to again enjoy the scenery and we were once again served with beauty. Mountains with snow on top, green plains, animals and really open spaces, you have to come to New Zealand to really get how pretty it is. Arthur's pass ended up being the most difficult part of that drive, as it is pretty high between the mountains, on a very steep road. I had the van struggling to go up at 20km/hour, I was going slower than 18 wheel trucks!!!
Finally we got through and slept in our van in a city called Springfield (about an hour away from Christchurch). We cooked a nice spaghetti and woke up the next morning with ice on the ground and fresh snow on the mountains...
We then arrived in Westport where I must say, there wasn't much to see or do. Probably the biggest surprise so far, nothing to really write about. The next morning, we headed straight for Greymouth and the scenery was worth stopping for; the beautiful coastline and the blue sky made for nice pictures. Some areas were very humid and it flet like a tropical climate at times.
Definitely one of the prettiest roads so far, I stopped more than 5 times to look or film. It was nice to get some warm weather for a few minutes. We tried to go see the pancake rocks, famous for the way they look and the water erupting out when the tide is coming in.
We then stopped in Greymouth, and the city opening after the mountains was a particular site. We checked at the local city centre what were the activities in the area, but they all cost a lot of money (white water rafting, kayaking, caving, jumpimg from a plane) and the weather was cold, and it was a bit too late..... so we decided to start crossing the land again towards Christchurch, on the east coast.
We took a less crowded road to again enjoy the scenery and we were once again served with beauty. Mountains with snow on top, green plains, animals and really open spaces, you have to come to New Zealand to really get how pretty it is. Arthur's pass ended up being the most difficult part of that drive, as it is pretty high between the mountains, on a very steep road. I had the van struggling to go up at 20km/hour, I was going slower than 18 wheel trucks!!!
Finally we got through and slept in our van in a city called Springfield (about an hour away from Christchurch). We cooked a nice spaghetti and woke up the next morning with ice on the ground and fresh snow on the mountains...
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