Day 9 : Makarora - Greymouth

We woke up the next morning and realised that our medium A-Frame cabin was nestled among the bushes and there was an amazing snow-capped mountain range just above us. Lol. We did not see anything at all in the pitch darkness the night before.

Pleasantly surprised to see snow on the mountain ranges above us ...
No wonder it was cold ...

Breakfast was instant noodles again, but everyone looked forward to lunch as we had something special in store. Lol.

That day, we were going to the West Coast. From Makarora, we had to drive to Haast, which was 80km away. The drive took about an hour and a half. The Haast Pass, known as the Gates of Haast, crosses the Southern Alps to get to the West.

We stopped at the Haast Visitors' Centre for a short break
The winds was strong and it was freezing cold

Once we got to the West, we could see the Tasman Sea!!

The West Coast is characterised by driftwrood-strewn beaches

We stopped at a popular lookout spot called the Knight's Point.

Splendid view from Knight's Point

Then we drove to Fox Glacier. I really did not know what to expect, but when I saw the ice on the slope of the mountain, I was awe-struck. It was the first time in my life to be this close to a glacier!

We went on a leisuirely walk along the Fox River valley floor and soaked up the beauty of it all.

Fox Glacier

Fox Glacier is the longest West Coast glacier, with the soaring Mt Cook and Mt Tasman at its head.

After the walk, we were all ready to have lunch.

Lunch

Lunch was rice with stir-fried broccoli and a yummy beef stew. I'd stewed beef with carrots, onions and potatoes. Initially, I was worried that it would not taste good because I did not have any spices to put into the stew. All that went in there were soy sauce, oyster sauce, sugar, and black pepper. Hence, I was surprised at the first taste of it because it was actually quite delicious! I could actually taste the natural sweetness of the carrots and onions! My friends loved the stew lots and sang praises of it. I was glad they liked it.

I volunteered to drive from Fox Glacier to Greymouth. That is a journey of about 203km and takes approximately 3 and a half hours. Well, the length of the journey was not a thing of concern! It was manouvring the narrow winding mountain ranges that demanded a high level of concentration. I had to steer the car at sharp angles ranging from 15 degrees to 45 degrees, sometimes at long stretches. All in all, there were 3 mountain roads that I conquered that day! I was so going to reward myself with an ice-cream later on!!

After this experience, I sort of understood the road signs in New Zealand. Whenever there's a sign that indicates a scenic spot ahead, it means that one is about to do some climbing uphill. Lol.

Anyway, to get to Greymouth, we passed through Franz Josef, Whataroa, Harihari, Kakapotahi, Ross and Hokitika. Hokitika is a slightly bigger establishment before Greymouth. Greymouth itself used to be a gold-mining town.

At Greymouth, we checked into Noah's Ark Backpackers, an animal-themed backpackers.

Noah's Ark Backpackers

This building was built in 1914. It was then known as the St. Patrick's Presbytery, and used to be the living quarters of priests. There were 2 major floods in Greymouth in 1988, but this building continued to stay dry and hence, the Noah's Ark theme.

On our arrival, we were greeted by the resident Golden Retriever. Bez is his name.

Handsome boy ...

We got the Giraffe Room for the night. The walls in our room were decorated with giraffes. It was a big room with a queen bed and a single bed. There were also lots of windows so it was rather cold. Again, there was only a small 5-fin heater that barely heated the room.

My room

Once we unloaded off our bags, we went to Punakaiki, a coastal village about 42km away from Greymouth.

A scenic stopover along the way to Punakaiki

Punakaiki is a small coastal village. It is located at Dolomite Point.

Punakaiki Pancake Rocks and Blowholes @ Paparoa National Park

There were walkways that took visitors to where they could see heavily eroded limestone,
known as the Pancake Rocks.

Pancake Rocks

Over millions of years, the sea, wind and rain etched out the soft layers of the rock to form the unusual layering effect.

A close-up shot of the layering ...

At high tide, the blowholes sprouted out water spectacularly.

A blowhole

It was dark by the time we drove back to Greymouth and started dinner. And dinner was quite fanciful. We made Baked Seafood Pasta.

I mixed tuna, mussels, sweet corn kernels and penne in a the pasta sauce, butter, milk, salt and black pepper. Then I poured it in a tray and placed a layer of cheese on top. Then it was baked till the cheese melted and browned. Even the locals were impressed! Lol.

Baked Seafood Pasta

Yummy

I think Bez wanted some too. He came by our dinner table while we were about to tuck into our pasta. But of course, we could not feed him. There was a notice which forbade guests to feed the pets.

I did not forget my ice-cream reward. Lol.

Tip Top Memphis Meltdown Big Nuts :
A whopping serve of caramel rippled vanilla flavoured ice-cream,
covered in nuts and plunged deep into thick milk chocolate

At Noah's Ark, we were given free wi-fi but up to a certain limit. Hence, after dinner, I washed up, tucked into bed and went online.