Westport to Greymouth

Seal colony at Westport

(there are seals at the bottom....honest...you have to look carefully though)

Pancake rocks at Punakaiki

again.....it's a hard life !!!

After Nelson, we started to travel down the west coast of South Island. Our first stop was Westport and when we arrived it was chucking it down. Next day it cleared up though and we took a walk out to the seal colony. We met this (hyper) kiwi guy, who was running (of course) along the track. He told us that the journey from Westport to Greymouth was voted one of the top 10 coastal routes in the world. He also told us some points to stop off at before he ran off (he said he was going to do a bike ride and then go surfing!!!!).

Off we drove, in wee Darlene, and the sun came out again. The scenery was amazing. Between the incredible surf of the Tasman sea and the road, which carves its way in and out of the steep cliffs. On our way, we passed The Pancake Rocks, which are a collection of limestone layered towers, caves, tunnels and blowholes slowly being eroded into the sea. When you look at them, they do (kind of) look like piles of pancakes.....hence the name.

After we got to Greymouth, we parked up at the campsite, and took advantage of the free spa.

Nice !

We will probably head down to the glacier region over the next couple of days, and then take it from there.