March 11 - Greymouth

The day started foggily. Fortunately, by the time we were packed and breakfasted, the fog had burned off, and it was sunny again. We set off through Buller's Gorge toward the coast. We stopped at White Creek, just 15 km. from Murchison. Some commercial entrepreneurs have set up a 'swing' bridge over the river. We found out that a 'swing' bridge is actually a cable suspension bridge. Eric is not overly fond of heights, but he bravely agreed to accompany me across this, for a short walk that crosses the fault line from the earthquake (1928, I believe) that caused many deaths in the Murchison area. The earth and rock displaced about 4.5 metres, and you can see the line. It was about a 7.8 on the Richter Scale. There were a number of quakes in the area, due to pressures that had built up, but it is referred to as the Murchison quake. There had been booming noises prior to the quake, that had been written off locally as dynamiting in the area!

You can also see where gold was mined alluvially - the remains of a miners cabin, walls of stones that were pulled out and stacked when the gravel was processed for whatever gold it contained.

We also did a side trail to see a 300 year old white pine (NOT the same as our white pines) - a very large tree.

We both declined the zipline return, and the jetboat ride - but it was a pleasant stop anyway.

The rest of the trip was through the gorge, with windy roads, and beautiful scenery. We thought the river seemed low for the size of the area worn by water. From later reading, we found out that the river has found its way underground to the next watershed.

Once we reached the coast, we bypassed Cape Foulwind for another day. We stopped at the 'pancake rocks' - a dolomite formation that is really interesting to look at. At high tide on a blowy day, the sea comes into underwater caves and shoots up from 'blowholes' in the rock. We could hear it in the caves, but it was a very flat sea - we bought the postcard.

We also so some of the other flightless birds - I'm going to have to check the name - near the visitor centre. They were quite unconcerned about humans, and were really interesting to watch.

We made our way to Greymouth to Global Village Backpackers. This is the biggest place we have stayed yet. It is shaped like a long lodge, painted bright colours throughout - cinnamon, navey, bright yellow, orange. There is an assortment of both painting and sculpture throughout. In the lounge where I am, there are African masks, an indonesian mask, African batiks, many wood carvings, flags (on the ceiling) from Swaziland, Uganda, Lesotho, Kenya, and one unlabelled mystery.

We bought steak for dinner, with trimmings, and two more bottles of wine. The grocery stores have an astonishing selection - it's a serious business here, and apparently well supported, as most wines are from New Zealand or Australia.

Arthur's Pass tomorrow - no booking for tomorrow night: we will see how far we get.