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March 10, 2005
Down the West Coast
(Day 22) Westport didn't have anything worth sticking around for, so immediately after checking out, Don, Daniela, and I began driving down the west coast.
Our first stop was Cape Foulwind, named by Captain Cook when he sailed through back in the 1770s, presumably after the foul weather he experienced in the area. This is the same guy that named the "Hole in the Rock" back at the Bay of Islands. He may have been a great explorer, but when it comes to names, he sure wasn't very creative.
A short walk above the crashing waves gave us our first look at New Zealand's fur seal colony. Adult seals are lazy creatures, lying around and looking like huge logs of crap. The pups were a bit more active, play fighting and barking at each other. We saw a couple younger seals fight the nasty waves and swim into the ocean, to be tossed around like driftwood. Times like this I really wish I had a better camera.
We continued down the west coast, driving along a magnificent stretch of road, with mist hovering over mountains to our left, and waves crashing against rocks on our right.
"I'm so glad we rented a car," I said to Don as we stopped for pictures. New Zealand's bus system is great, but they only stop at major tourist points, where everyone tumbles off the bus to take the same pictures, and then piles back on again.
A huge throng of tourists had gathered at Punakaiki to see the famous pancake rocks and blowholes. Signs along the walkway explained how the pancakes were formed, but I was too caught up in watching waves rush into a narrow channel, surge through some underground tunnel, and spout streams of water through an opening in the rocks, to pay any attention.
At the information center at Punakaiki, I ran into a girl that looked awfully familiar.
"Didn't I see you somewhere before?" I asked her.
She looked at me. "Yes, but I can't remember where..."
"Didn't you spend the night at Awaroa hut a few nights ago?"
"Oh! That's right! By the way, how were your food supplies by the end of the hike?" She knew we hadn't brought very much.
"Haha, I was starving by the end of the walk."
Turns out she (I can't remember her name right now...) was headed to Hokitika like us for the night, like us.
"Maybe I'll see you there," I said as we went our separate ways. I wouldn't mind, she was pretty cute.
We were at Greymouth a couple hours later. Like Westport, it wasn't much to look at. We spent maybe half an hour there, tops, before moving on.
A few kilometers out of Greymouth was a junction to Christchurch. We would be splitting ways with Daniela here; we would continue south towards Hokitika and she would try to hitch a ride west to Christchurch.
A little about hitchhiking in New Zealand. While the official advice is don't do it, it's supposedly an easy and relatively safe way to get around. Driving through the country, we've passed many people holding out a thumb, hoping for a ride. Even a small girl (with a huge backpack) like Daniela had no qualms about doing it. (Daniela, if you're reading this, send me an email, let me know you got to Christchurch safely!) My rental car is only going to take me as far as Queenstown, while my flight leaves from Christchurch. Maybe I'll try to hitchhike that remaining distance...
Thanks to everyone for their support and comments! Knowing people are reading keeps me motivated to continue the updates!
Posted by markyiin at March 10, 2005 12:53 AM
Comments
currently at the glaciers.. too bad the weather really sucks right now.. i really hope it clears up tomorrow or i'll have to give it a miss..
mojess: haha, not homesick at all.. maybe miss being able to use the intenet whenever i want, but you'd be surprised at how nice some of these hostels are.
David: Hmm, the awaroa estuary was uncrossable at high tide, there was no other route. if you missed your window, you were stuck. the high tide route for the anchorage estuary was probably an hour and a half i think?
Steve: yeah, i wish we played holdem.. i coulda won some money to finance my trip for longer!
Anna: you know, i think if it werent for the sandflies, these beaches would've been ruined by tourism long ago... so maybe the sandflies arent so bad afterall.
OREO: i think the coolest thing about new zealand's scenery is it has it all... beaches, mountains, lakes, etc... like i'm sure countries like nepal has cooler mountains, and fiji may have cooler beaches, no country seems to have great examples of everything.
justin: definately going to do a whole year! to be honest, travelling in new zealand isnt very challenging.. i cant wait to get to like china or russia where it's supposedly harder to get around!
Posted by: markyiin at March 10, 2005 01:18 AM
Glad to hear there are still places left in the world where you can hitch-hike with reasonable safety.
Posted by: Jon at March 10, 2005 02:10 PM
damn these internet machines that dont let me use my floppy disks... currently 'stuck' at the glaciers. probably wont be able to update until i get to queenstown the in two days.
Posted by: markyiin at March 10, 2005 11:52 PM
Looks like little in the south island has changed since I was there (decades ago). You are lucky to see the west coast by car - I did it by bus and was beholden to another schedule which allowed few stops.
About hitchhiking in NZ, my friend and I received a strong warning about girls hitching from a woman who picked us up at Franz Josef. Other than that, the ride was silent. Weird. I don't recall hearing about rides that went bad for anyone in the 9 months I stayed in the country.
We didn't make it to the glacier itself because of bad weather. Hope you're luckier.
The south island has so much to offer. We're lucky it's remote and therefore fairly pristine. It's like a secret place that you've stumbled upon. Glad you're enjoying it.
Posted by: Kerry K at March 11, 2005 11:09 AM
Reading this is great.. it's like reading a book, Every time I come back, there's something new. And there are pictures !!
Mark: here's an idea
You should take a picture of everyone you meet on the trip and write a thing or two about them on here, I want to see more pictures of people. I know, i'm a demanding reader :)
And you can give them the URL for this website, so that they can tell their friends about this website, and their friends will come see pictures of them.
Plus, by the end of the trip, you want to remeber all the people that you met.
Posted by: jack at March 12, 2005 12:18 AM
Just curious, how are you doing financially? As in, how long do you think this money will last that you've saved up?
Posted by: Ankit at March 12, 2005 04:06 PM
I am kind of wondering the same thing Ankit is. It seems like some places would be more expensive than others and it'd be really hard to figure out how much certain things would be everywhere. Is it true that things are a lot cheaper (like lodging and food, etc) in southeast Asia (where I recall you said you were going to spend some time in?)?
Posted by: OREOSpeedwagon at March 13, 2005 12:43 AM
Hitchhike?! Are you NUTS?! Don't do it! -GEM
Posted by: GEM at April 11, 2005 06:43 AM