West Coast and Buller Gorge

15th/16th November 2013

The West Coast is beautiful. There is a huge diversity in the type of landscape that you drive though from flat alluvial plains to towering mountains. Dave's comments ranged from 'that looks like Norway' about the gorgeous Lake Hawea, to 'that looks like India but smaller', when talking about a landslip in the Haast Pass, and on one occasion, 'That's like Scotland.....on steroids!'. I didn't say much as my voice was still absent but the sat nav joined in on one set of hairpin bends telling us to 'do a U-Turn' followed immediately by 'Keep straight on for 68km' at least 6 times as she struggled to decide which way we were facing!

It wasn't until 1965 that the Haast pass was opened and so gave a route all the way up the West side of South Island. The Haast Pass was shut due to a land slip for a month before we got here and is actually still shut at night whilst they are doing repairs. The roads are not as wide on this side of the island and certainly not as straight but they are still pretty peaceful. The bridges are often one lane's width and in one notable place, shared a railway track!

We passed through several old 'Gold rush' town that had been preserved and I would have liked to have had a very short go at panning for gold but was dragged away.

Thanks to the Tourism Radio gadget in the van we did stop at several places to have a look at various sights that we may not have otherwise done, and so got to see some amazing Blue Pools containing massive Rainbow Trout ,and various waterfalls. And tonight we are staying at the amazing Pancake rocks at Punakaiki. They are limestone rock that really do look like a pile of pancakes, and in places have also worn away to create blowholes for the sea to spout up through. On our drive into the place I was delighted to see a Weka running across the road and we have seen another one since. My first proper sightings of a NZ native bird in the wild. I must admit that I had to go into Tourist Information and look it up in one of their bird books.

Tonight is one of our 'Freedom Camping' nights. As we have a fully self-contained van with a blue sticker on the back to say that it is so we can legally park up pretty much anywhere and camp. There are some restrictions but this site was pointed out to us by the lady at Tourist Information. Obviously we have no outside facilities at all here so we do some Freedom Camping and some on-site camping. The view out of the window here is truly beautiful. A large forest covered hill. Just across the road is the beach and in the other direction, a river that we may explore in the morning. Dave went to check its potential for washing but could only bear one limb in it at a time as it was so cold. His choice; I had offered to put water on to heat for the on-board shower.