What a grey day!

What a grey day!

So it rained all night.  When we got up in the morning all you could see was grey.  For the first time when we left the campsite we didn’t say “Wow, look at that!” because there was nothing to see; everything was covered by cloud/mist.

Taking advice from weather forecasts and locals we decided there was no point hanging around.  Nothing was going to change for two days, so we made for Westport in one day instead of three.  From here we’ll turn east to Nelson and work our way back to the east coast.

The road was a mix of good, straight stretches interspersed with steep, hairpin bendy bits.  And for the first hour we also had the occasional flood to contend with.  The thick vegetation on either side of the road gradually started to give way to scrub and fields of sheep or cattle.

From Ross, an old gold mining town where we stopped for coffee, the road pretty much follows the coast; what you could see was wild and craggy.  Shortly after that we encountered a new hazard; the single lane bridge also carries trains!  And then at Kumara junction the railway goes right through the roundabout!

The one large place on our route was Greymouth and it did live up to its name, being pretty grey.

Punakaiki is home to the pancake rocks and blowholes, but we couldn’t get near the car park.  Instead we stopped a little further on for a fish and chip lunch at a small restaurant.  The road from there was quite hair-raising.  This section of hairpin bends was up in the clouds!  At least you couldn’t see down below.

So now we’re sitting in our site in Carter’s Beach, just outside Westport.  The rain has finally stopped and we’re expecting some sunshine this evening.