Surf's Up and the Pub is Open

Kia Ora!

Rain-soaked, but happy

The picture says it all! We got a first hand dose of the famous New Zealand West Coast weather. Our most helpful host at the Sundowner Motel met us at the train, arranged for car rental, and advised us on places to visit. Paddy (Alpine West Rental Cars) was there with a car within 30 minutes and we headed north up the West Coast to the Pancake Rocks at Punakaiki.

Both Sarah and I are experienced at driving on the left side of the road, but Sarah left her driver's license in Timaru. So, for any car rentals on this journey, I was the designated driver. Sue went on the contract as the back-up driver. She looked a bit anxious at the thought of driving on the "wrong" side of the road.

This surf is bigger than it looks here

 Having lived in Greymouth a few years ago and knowing the beautiful Coastal Highway, I had respect for the single lane bridges, curves, and potential rock falls I would face. Gratefully, the highway has been improved, and the trip to Punakaiki went smoothly as the rain continued. We stopped to look at the West Coast surf, famous with surfers.

Barbara elected to stay in the dry car while three of us donned rain wear and ventured out on the cliffs high over the ocean. 

Punakaiki Pancake Rocks

The pancake effect of the rocks is the result of limestone bands separated by layers of soft, mud compacted over millions of years. During high tide, plumes of seawater are forced through large holes creating spectacular blowholes.

Weka

Contrasted to the drama of the scenery, I was charmed to find the chicken-sized weka still patrolling the parking lot. These curious, wingless fowl are a protected species. (Perhaps because they taste like chicken?)

The new Monteith's brewery

I was eager to take my guests to the Monteith Brewery, which I had visited previously. But where was the original bar? What happened to the tour of vats and bottling assembly demonstrating how beer was processed 150 years ago. Gone! In their place were these shiny new vats, this modern bar. I was assured they still processed small batches as

Barb pours like a pro.

before and created new combinations for test marketing before going nationwide. At least for our entry fee we still got beer, but it was just wrong. All wrong!

We were less ambitious the next day; we went shopping in Hokitiki. (I love that name.) To get there going south on the

Piece of cake! Note rails.

Coastal Road, I anticipated a hated single lane bridge that I remembered. What makes this bridge so frightening is its length and that it is shared by the railroad. Can you imagine starting across and facing a train bearing down on you? Not to worry; the road bed has been repaired so a car is no longer in danger of slipping off the space for cars and getting trapped in between the rails.

Remembering Greymouth miners

 There is little change in Greymouth. The seawall beside the Grey River looking toward the Tasman Sea is there, but a new monument commemorates the 29 local miners who died three years ago and remain entombed in the mine near here. KC and I knew some of the families involved.

Looking toward "the bar"

At the other end of the seawall is another older monument to remember the seamen who died crossing the bar, including two in 2013. When a ship returns to port, wind and waves may have shifted the sandbar that builds up at the mouth of the river. If the seamen judge wrong, they are captured by the greedy, turbulent surf and lost. Until I lived in Greymouth, I never understood the reference or meaning of crossing the bar in Alfred Lord Tennyson's iconic 1889 poem, Crossing The Bar.

We crossed, not the bar but the Southern Alps by train once again, and with the spirit of the West Coast continuing with us, we ended up in Christchurch...at the pub.

Cheers,
Kiwi Traveler

Crossing the Southern Alps The Easy Way

Kia Ora!

One can fly over the Southern Alp Mountains that run like a backbone up the South Island. Or one can hike the trails from east to west (warning--requires climbing over several steep mountains), or motor through Arthur's Pass, but the easiest and most scenic way is to take the TransAlpine train.  When we left Christchurch early in the morning on the TransAlpine and crossed the Canterbury Plains, the sun was shining.

Crossing the Canterbury Plains

 Soon the train began to climb revealing vistas of mountain fed streams and river gorges carved over eons of time.

 The train crossed a wide valley with snow-peaked mountains in the distance, though the sun had long disappeared in a thick bank of clouds. As the train climbed, we were soon in the clouds.

In the clouds

 










A welcome improvement in this experience (since I took it a few years ago) is the addition of a narrative broadcast intermittently  describing where we are and what we are seeing. Flora, fauna, and history are covered in addition to geology and geography.

Barbara listens to narrative

 The 8-kilometer Otira Tunnel lay ahead of us but the relatively new train (replaced after the earthquake in 2010) was not allowed to take passengers through the tunnel yet. All of the passengers were loaded into buses, which transported us across the apex of the mountain range and back to the train for the rest of the journey. By now rain fell quite briskly, and the bus passed under a vigorous stream cleverly diverted over the road.

Trough diverts stream over the road

Returning to the train

I was not surprised that on the west side of the mountains, wind and rain prevailed. Weather patterns seem to come from the Tasman Sea on the west side of the islands. Rain falls on the west side as the weather system moves over the mountains. That the east coast of the country is drier and warmer seems logical. Jokes are made about the terrible weather experienced on the west coast and in Greymouth where we would de-train.

Sarah: working on a sermon?

Sue: what happened to the view?

We were met at the train by our most helpful host from the Sundowner Lodge, who helped us get organized for a look at the west coast.

Next...the west coast.

Cheers,
Kiwi Traveler